15 Aug 2025

Libfocus Link-out for August 2025

Welcome to the August edition of the Libfocus link-out, an assemblage of library-related things we have found informative, educational, thought-provoking and insightful on the Web over the past while.

5 images: clockwise from top: A robot hand holding a pen, wavy line, a picture of two men (musicians Paul McCartney and David Bowie), a woman looking at a screen, a person standing in front of a stack of books
Images from this month's link-out articles

Is the AI Bubble About to Burst? 
Aaron Benanav suggests that AI isn't a force for good and that its promises of exponentially increasing productivity are, at best, hollow.

From the article:
"Daron Acemoglu, the Nobel Prize–winning economist, has voiced open scepticism, warning that generative AI technologies may do little to resolve the deeper economic malaise afflicting advanced capitalist societies. For all the extraordinary technical feats that have been achieved, it is increasingly clear that the current wave of AI innovation may not, by itself, produce the broad-based economic dynamism that its proponents so confidently predict."

Measuring the Economic Value of a Liberal Education. 
ITHAKA's research report from 16th July 2025 investigates the value and benefits of a liberal arts education as perceived by individual students.

From the paper:
" Using longitudinal data from the College and Beyond II (CBII) dataset, we measure students’ exposure to key liberal arts features—such as curricular breadth, small classes, and engagement with diverse perspectives—and examine how these experiences relate to academic, labor market, and civic outcomes. The use of student-level data allows us to capture meaningful variation within institutions, revealing that students at the same college or university can have significantly different educational experiences."

The AI boom is now bigger than the ’90s dotcom bubble—and it’s built on the backs of bots, maybe more than real users. 
In this article for Fortune, Ashley Lutz and Nick Lichtenberg discuss the malicious activity of 'bad bots' on the internet, where almost 50% of traffic now comes from non-human sources. They are a key aspect of the AI revolution that is threatening to undo the internet as it’s been known since the mid-1990s.

Annie L. McPheeters oral history interview, 1992 June 8. 
Fascinating interview with the civil rights activist Annie Lou McPheeters, who served as a librarian to a young, elementary-school aged Martin Luther King Jr. In an oral history interview from the Georgia State University Library digital collections, McPheeters recalls King taking an interest in books about Mahatma Gandhi.

Can academics use AI to write journal papers? What the guidelines say. 
Professor Sumaya Laher of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa summarises what counts as acceptable use of AI in academic writing according to publisher guidelines.

From the article:
"The guidelines are unanimous that AI tools cannot be listed as co-authors or take responsibility for the content. Authors remain fully responsible for verifying the accuracy, ethical use and integrity of all AI-influenced content. Routine assistance does not need citation, but any substantive AI-generated content must be clearly referenced."

Society Publishers at a Crossroads: New Evidence of an Accelerating Crisis. 
Society publishers are a cornerstone of the academic scholarly landscape. Rob Johnson investigates in the Scholarly Kitchen why society publisher are in crisis in terms of revenue, longevity of publishing operations, and the impact of AI.

AI Policies for Libraries – Some Observations. — David Lee King surveys real AI use policies from public libraries and highlights key themes—from attribution rules and handling bias to transparency around AI generated content.

Bob Geldof’s personal archive of Live Aid photographs made public at National Library. 
Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof has handed over his Live Aid archive in 2017 to the National Library of Ireland. Among the collection are thousands of photographs donated by photographers and news organisations from the day. Some of them have never been seen in public before. There were more than 1,500 plastic slides, 629 colour transparencies and 139 photographic prints.


Bookshelves to Bylines: When Libraries and Journalists Join Forces | Library Journal. 
Sarah Asch for Library Journal looks at the overlapping missions of librarians and journalists, and the ways in which we can join forces.

How Cuts to Library Budgets Will Impact Publishers. 
Karen Fischer for Publishers Weekly on the different ways library book budget cuts will affect the ecosystem of book publishing.

18 Jul 2025

Experiencing the Erasmus Library Staff Mobility Week 2025 in Dublin


This guest post is by Anne Charlotte Danhiez who is the Head of User Training in the Robert de Sorbon Library, France. Anne Charlotte took part in the sixth Irish Erasmus Library Staff Mobility week hosted by CONUL Libraries from the 23rd-27th June 2025. This week is targeted at European professional library staff working in universities or other research orientated libraries with an interest in visiting Ireland. It gives participants the opportunity to engage with Irish librarians and visit many of Ireland's CONUL Libraries. Find out more about the Erasmus programme on the CONUL website

An Erasmus Library Staff Week can be boiled down to a few ingredients:

  • librarians from the receiving institution organising presentations and facilitating discussions around various topics
  • participants from different European countries presenting their libraries, and contributing to talks
  • several visits to libraries
  • a few local and touristic activities, including an evening all together


Mix all these ingredients, shake them well, and you’ll get an opportunity for everyone to share ideas and get inspiration from all around Europe – an invitation to take what’s best and integrate it in your own library, after enjoying a week abroad.


The 2025 Conul Erasmus Library Staff Mobility Week revolved around “Future-proofing libraries”, and every day or half-day was organised around visiting a library and listening to different presentations, on a specific “topic of the day” from the librarians working there, and from the Staff Week’s participants.


As Monday started with our first visit, to the library of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), I was immediately faced with a massive cultural difference. The library’s furniture was modern, colourful, organised in various, smaller spaces catering to the students’ needs – everything we librarians strive for, everything I wish I could copy and paste in all the academic libraries of my country, except for one small, tiny problem: budget. And here was the first cultural difference: every now and again, on a door, you’d see a small plaque indicating the name of the person who had financed that space, something unthinkable (for now?) where I live and work. In the meantime, I took pictures to get some inspiration. The day went by, including presentations on the library’s staff and organisation, which also interested me deeply as my own library will create new departments in the next coming months, and will need to adapt its organisation. The day ended with a different kind of visit: a walking tour of Dublin, useful for any newcomer in need of some orientation.

A large illuminated globe suspended between wooden rows of bookshelves
Gaia artwork, Old Library, Trinity College. Picture credit Anne Charlotte Danhiez, 2025.

Tuesday started bright and early at Trinity College Dublin, where we attended different presentations, and it included a visit to the Old Library and the Book of Kells which, as we learnt, is the second most visited attraction in Dublin (can you guess the first one? I couldn’t: the Guinness storehouse). If some of us were impressed that a library and a book could be the first attraction of the city, having already seen them a decade ago I was more surprised by what was new. In lieu of the books, the Old Library has a new resident in this period of transition: Gaia was centre stage, reminding us of the week’s theme by inviting us to look to the future. 


The day concluded with an evening in MoLI, the Museum of Literature in Ireland, which offered us a private tour of the museum, looking at the first printed copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses and all its different translations, all while drinking wine, eating canapés, and talking to our Irish hosts in a beautiful rose garden: that’s an evening I’ll remember.

Four people looking up at pages suspended over their heads. Yes I will is written on the wall behind them.
Exhibition in MoLI, The Museum of Literature Ireland. Picture credit: Sanja Posthumus 2025.

Wednesday was a busy day, as we visited two different libraries: DCU’s Cregan Library in the morning and TU Dublin in the afternoon, which gave us the opportunity to enjoy a sunny walk outside during lunch, as well as listening to different presentations, two of which were on AI – a topic I was keen on, as a librarian who spends most of her time teaching students. Thursday also saw us visiting two libraries: UCD’s James Joyce Library and the National Library of Ireland, where we had a presentation on born digital collections and its pilot project which focused on Marian Keyes, something which was entirely new to me and utterly fascinating.

UCD’s James Joyce library was thought-provoking for me, as the building dates back to the late 1960s (like many academic universities in my country) and it is currently being reorganised and refurbished to better cater to the students’ needs, something we’re also actively working on in my library. As the library offers different cosy spaces, with wood and plants, I found myself sending multiple pictures to my colleagues who love them. What struck me the most, however, were the new sensory rooms, with different furniture, lighting that can be adapted to everyone’s needs, and the sensory, soothing wall, which I would love for my library to adopt.

Seventeen people looking at the camera, some are standing, some are sitting.
The Erasmus Group in The James Joyce Library, UCD. Picture credit: Catherine Wilsdon 2025. 

I mentioned cultural differences earlier on: as I heard someone mention multi-faith rooms in their library, I gasped, and quickly, comically realised I was the only one who was so surprised. I’m French – religion is banned in all public spaces, but during this Erasmus Library Staff Mobility Week, this was just another avenue of possibility. Another cultural difference I encountered followed me throughout this week in Ireland and was even more striking to me. Not only did most librarians wear a badge with the LGBTQIA+ colours (June is of course Pride month), there were also “all gender” toilets in several libraries and universities, and a desire to create spaces suited to everyone. We were shown or told about fantastic spaces to come which aim to adapt to new uses (podcast cabins, donor rooms, event spaces…), but more inclusive rooms already exist. Everyone, everywhere, and everything in Ireland felt geared towards inclusivity in all its aspects, welcoming everyone – more than anything else, I think that that’s the feeling I’ll take back with me.


So, did the Erasmus Library Staff Week recipe work on that week of June 23rd to 27th? Dear reader, it certainly did. As my plane landed home, in a heatwave reaching 38°C, I immediately found myself thinking of the nice and cool libraries I visited in the Irish weather – certainly colder, more unpredictable than in my home country, but made all the more special by the warm Irish welcome I received everywhere I went that week: that was truly the magic ingredient. 


Thank you very much to everyone who was involved in this Library Staff Week’s organisation!


Posted on Friday, July 18, 2025 | Categories:

6 Jul 2025

Libfocus Link-out for July 2025

Welcome to the July edition of the Libfocus link-out, an assemblage of library-related things we have found informative, educational, thought-provoking and insightful on the Web over the past while.

Five image clockwise from top left: Graphic of a man reading from a page, Two people seated at a table looking at an open book, graphic of giant hands over a man who is standing between the walls of a control panel with attached wires, a woman pointing to a map on a large screen, graphic of an older woman smiling while reading a book
Images taken from this month's link-out articles

How Language Bias Persists in Scientific Publishing Despite AI Tools.

In this article for Stanford HAI Scott Hadly explains that there’s no such thing as a quick fix for mitigating against language bias in scholarly publishing: “so if you have a subconscious bias against people from China, for example, that bias will emerge in other ways, even as language is adjusted [with LLMs].”

AI literacy essentials for academic libraries.
A free-of-charge eight-week AI microcourse from Clarivate and Choice's LibTech insights starting in mid-July. Sign up on the Choice website

The course includes:

  • Core AI literacy concepts written by academic library workers for academic library workers.  
  • Self-paced material includes readings and multimedia content, case studies and interviews with thought leaders. 
  • Optional discussion questions and quizzes to build community and test your knowledge.  
  • At the end of the micro-course, participants will be awarded a certificate of completion.

The more books per capita, the fewer residents require nursing care: Japan study.
In this Mainichi article, Ayako Oguni looks at the Japanese study that finds the more public library books a municipality has, the fewer residents require long-term nursing care. The study also found that living in a municipality with many library books may extend healthy life expectancy, even for those who don't read.

Roles in higher education libraries: An explainer.
Chris Chan explores how libraries are changing with the times in the digital era in this Times Higher Education article. He examines five roles that have emerged in response to the skills and expertise required of librarians as they evolve to meet the changing needs of their institutions.

How One College Library Plans to Cut Through the AI Hype.
Kathryn Palmer for Inside Higher Ed speaks to Nicholas Johnson, the inaugural director of AI at Stony Brook University Library, New York about his new position and how the library is going to engage with AI.

Pioneering project releases more lost Irish records spanning 700 years.
Rory Carroll for The Guardian on the 2025 release of 175,000 more records and increased searchability on The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.

The modern library: technology-enhanced library spaces.
This SCONUL report provides a collection of case studies showcasing technology-enabled library spaces across the UK and Ireland. It helps to answer the question of what a modern academic library looks like.

Public Libraries Deserve a LibKey Nomad Too, Dammit.
Imagine hitting a paywall on The Irish Times or The Telegraph, and a little popup says "Available through [Your Public Library] - Click to access" and takes you there. Academic libraries have this with browser extensions like LibKey and Lean Library. Blogger Hannah Shelley wonders if it's a thing for public libraries.

26 Jun 2025

"Is This How Men Always Feel?": The Power of Being Surrounded by Female Leaders at CONUL

This review of the CONUL Conference is by Holly Meade-Kennedy, who is a library assistant in Maynooth University Library. 

Close up picture of two smiling women
Holly Meade Kennedy with her colleague Sarah Lindsay. Picture credit: Holly Meade-Kennedy 2025. 

"Is This How Men Always Feel?": The Power of Being Surrounded by Female Leaders at CONUL

I left CONUL 2025 with a (free) notebook full of ideas, a mind full of questions and one quiet, persistent thought I can’t shake: is this how men always feel?

It was the first time I felt so at ease at a professional event - and it happened to be led almost entirely by women. There was no special focus on gender, no headline panel about women in leadership. Women were just there - leading, organising and shaping every part of the CONUL conference.

When I was awarded the bursary to attend CONUL, I envisioned writing a blog post after the conference about speakers I enjoyed hearing or tips for next year’s attendees. But instead, I had a genuinely impactful experience I had not anticipated.

From the first panel where Dr Sandra Collins, Monica Crump, Allison Kavanagh and Ciara McCaffrey reflected as leaders on challenges and opportunities facing our research libraries, I felt inspired because I could see elements of myself in these women. Their career paths seemed wildly impressive but possible with hard work and commitment.

Despite progress, many industries still exhibit a significant gender imbalance at the leadership level, which means that in the past when I have attended conferences or seminars, I am usually listening to middle-aged (white) men and although I still respect and learn from them – I don’t see myself in them so I can’t relate or be inspired in the same way.

I know that men of quality including my own dad, husband, brother and even colleagues in MU Library have always understood that is not an attack on them – it’s simply an honest reflection on my own experience. I am thrilled that smart, kind, experienced men have the chance to lead and present – I just want women to be on the bill too.

Even though our libraries are mostly made up of female employees, men are disproportionately represented in top leadership positions comparative to the numbers they make up overall.

a female speaker at a podium presenting at a conference with a slideshow in the background.
Anne Jarvis, University Librarian at Princeton presenting at CONUL. Picture credit: Holly Meade-Kennedy 2025. 
I had the unique opportunity to ask Anne Jarvis about this. Anne was the first female University Librarian in Cambridge’s 800 year history and she now holds the same title at Princeton. Anne shared incredible insights in her answer – noting that she believes one of the key elements to helping women secure top leadership roles within libraries is mentoring. 

She acknowledged that women do have a tougher time advancing professionally and encouraged women to work on not doubting themselves and to insert themselves into conversations and seize opportunities that come their way. To see an Irish woman excelling at the highest level was so heartening. When Anne took to the podium, she didn’t spend her keynote talking about gender. She spoke about leadership, vision, strategy and community. She didn’t justify her presence, she embodied it.

In doing so, Anne offered something rare and radical: the image of a woman in power without apology, without preamble, without footnotes. She acknowledged her experience, but she didn’t let it define her talk. As I listened, I realised this is what real representation does. It shifts the air in the room, even when no one says a word about it.

Throughout the conference, I noticed how safe and inclusive the space was. I felt welcome to ask questions and strike up conversations. Unfortunately – as with many others across the world – I have been in professional situations where inappropriate comments or unprofessional behaviour from men much more senior than me has made me feel uncomfortable at best, intimidated at worst. I realise many people who work in libraries have done so throughout their whole career – but as someone who has worked across many industries – I was genuinely struck by the ease I felt and I believe that was largely down to being surrounded by so many women.

As the winner of the bursary supported by UCD, I was also offered the opportunity to be mentored by Gillian Kerins from TUD who was so friendly, kind and helpful. Again, this was a powerful way to help me network and give me a direct link to another impressive lady working within the library space.

I also had the chance to attend the presentations given by my own MU colleagues – amazingly competent women all passionate about the individual roles they play in making our library so great. It was especially meaningful to have the chance to listen to Laura Connaughton, Head of Academic Services in MU Library, share about our gender equality initiatives as part of our Athena Swan Bronze Award submission – a project I have loved being a part of. Having Laura, Michaela Hollywood and Fiona Morley from MU all present and visible at CONUL is so motivating and I appreciate their leadership being grounded in approachability and kindness.

What struck me most was that all of this leadership and visibility was not a theme. These women weren’t on the programme because they were women. They were there because they were talented and hardworking people who just happened to be women.

And in that quiet normalisation, I was left wondering - is this how men always feel?

What must it be like, to walk into rooms and always see yourself represented at leadership level? What must it feel like, to feel included by default? What must it feel like to always feel safe in unfamiliar spaces and situations?

This experience has made me want to work to build more spaces like that for everyone.

Because although I am speaking from my own experience, I want to also acknowledge there is so much more work to be done in our sector to diversify further to include more people from different races, religions and cultural backgrounds. Representation shouldn’t be radical - it should be routine.

Leaving CONUL 2025, I want to help build spaces where more people can feel that same sense of belonging, safety and possibility I did - not as a surprise, but as a standard. Because if this is how men always feel - seen, included, inspired - then I want that for everyone. Not just women, but people of every background. CONUL gave me a glimpse of what’s possible, and now I want to help make it permanent.


Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2025 | Categories:

25 Jun 2025

Blog on the Conul conference 2025: Shaping tomorrow, Reflections and new directions.



This review of the CONUL Conference 2025 is by John O'Donnell, who is a Library Assistant at the Glucksman Library, UL.


Thanks to the kind sponsorship of Bibliotheca, I had the opportunity to attend the CONUL Conference as a library assistant who qualified from an LAI accredited coarse in the last 5 years. The Conference took place in the Tullamore Court Hotel on the 28th and 29th of May. This was the first CONUL conference which I would have had the opportunity to attend so I was curious but also excited to find what the conference had in store for me.

The conference opened with the head librarians of the University of Limerick, Technological University Dublin, University of Galway and University College Dublin.  They discussed the opportunities and the threats faced by academic libraries within the current climate of which we work in.

The first of the keynote speakers was Richard Ovenden, who currently holds the title of Bodley’s Librarian & the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries, Richard comes from a special collections background. The keynote title was Collecting and preserving new imperatives and challenges. Collecting and preserving knowledge is important due to these uncertain times libraries are currently operating in. Throughout the keynote speech from Richard, he continued to stress the importance of collecting and preserving information.

After the first keynote speech, the breakout session which I attended was the lighting talk. In the lighting talk each talk revolved around Auditing digital collections for long term preservation, AI curious to AI conversant, Aligning Open repository Network, AI Literacy at UCD Library and Finally Trends in Open Access Publishing. I found these lightning talks helpful and informative as I currently work in the customer engagement side of the Glucksman Library I want to branch out and begin looking at different aspects of the work performed in academic libraries, such as AI, OA publishing, preserving collections and final the use of Open Repository networks to strengthen practices. These talks were very interesting and helped me further understand other aspects of the academic library which will overall help me in my understanding of what goes on in the day-to-day work within an academic library. After the lightning talk, that concluded the talks for the day. I then took the opportunity to go over and view some of the posters which had been done by members of other libraries around the country.

After all the events, I was given the opportunity to meet my Bursary Mentor, Elaine Harrington from UCC. We discussed the first day of the conference and what I had thought of the whole experience, from the keynote speaker to the lightning talks which I had also attended That concluded my first day at the CONUL conference.

On day two we had our talk from the second Keynote speaker Anne Jarvis, who is the current University Librarian in Princton University in the United States. Anne spoke about her professional experiences and focused on three primary three themes that she believes to be crucial to library leadership.  The three themes which she believes to be the most important are Partnership, Innovation, and Sustainability of Services.

After Anne’s talk, we then had the first break out session. I went to the feedback session of the Record Data Management (RDM) costing model. This session was presented by Armin Straube and Marcus Leaning from UL. The attendees were to view the process of good record data management standards and see if they could find any potential unforeseen costs within the data management plan. This was an informative session which helped me better understand the process required when creating a record data management plan. After that workshop I then attended a Parallel paper talk session from Jenny O Neill, Michaela Hollywood and Oksana Dereza. The three individual papers touched on the topic of Open Research, Reimagining the Library and Transforming text into discovery.

Being able to attend the Conul conference was an excellent experience for me as I only began my full time carrier in libraries in early 2024 so the conference was an amazing experience for me to attend so that I could, number 1, meet people within the field which I work in, and also to gain a better understanding of the work done, not only in the Glucksman library where I work but also other university Libraires around the country. To top it all off, I was fortunate enough to win the annual conference quiz- a highlight of the event.

24 Jun 2025

CONUL Conference 2025

This review of the CONUL Conference 2025 is by Michelle McMeekin who is a senior library assistant in Queen's University Belfast. 

CONUL Conference 2025

The CONUL Conference is a key gathering for academic librarians across Ireland, and I was thrilled to have been awarded the LIS Student Bursary to attend this year’s event. Having recently completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Management at Ulster University, the conference provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with professionals across the library community and support my ongoing professional development.

The theme this year, "Shaping Tomorrow – Reflections and New Directions" felt especially timely given the evolving roles of libraries and the wider impact of political uncertainty within the sector. Held at the centrally located Tullamore Court Hotel, the conference offered a rich and varied programme featuring keynote speakers, poster presentations, lightning talks, and parallel paper sessions.

The conference kicked off with a plenary session where a panel of four library professionals discussed the challenges facing libraries and reflected on issues such as cybersecurity in the protection of digital collections, redesigning library spaces, generative AI and changing user behaviour. It was reassuring to learn that other libraries are encountering similar challenges, and valuable to gain insight from their experiences and advice.

The keynote speaker on day one was Richard Ovenden from Bodleian Library who delivered a talk titled ‘Collecting and Preserving: New Imperatives and New Challenges.’ He emphasized the vital role of libraries and archives as an 'essential infrastructure for democracy’, highlighting their significance in supporting education, shaping identity, and safeguarding rights. Ovenden underscored the risks and ethical concerns associated with OpenAI scraping websites and open-access academic publications to extract free knowledge. He suggested that one way to address the influence of these technological challenges is by curating trusted collections, supported by accurate metadata and shelf marks. His thought-provoking talk shed light on the growing impact of big tech on the library sector.

'Collecting and preserving: new imperatives and new challenges.' Speaker: Richard Ovenden, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Picture credit Michelle McMeekin.

During the break, I had the opportunity to connect with my conference mentor, Katherine McSharry from the University of Galway, who kindly introduced me to several of her colleagues. Afterwards, I attended the final session of the day, which featured a series of lightning talks. Niamh Murphy’s presentation on using Brunnhilde software to preserve digital collections was insightful, especially in relation to challenges like legacy storage and formatting errors. The discussion on trends in open access publishing was equally engaging, highlighting a shift toward Gold Open Access and a decline in Green OA. I also found it useful to learn about the National Action Plan for Open Research (NORF), which promotes open repositories as an alternative to traditional publishing models.
Ivona Coghlan from Royal College of Surgeons of England with her poster 'Pivoting from Academic Libraries to Healthcare Libraries - Tips for Transitioning Between Sectors.' Picture Credit Michelle McMeekin.
The day concluded with a drinks reception followed by a gala dinner. It was a delight to see everyone dressed up and enjoying the chance to unwind and socialise after a full day of sessions. As a first-time attendee, I was especially impressed—and it seemed widely agreed—that the food was among the best served at a conference!
Day two was equally jam-packed with a variety of interesting talks and breakout sessions to attend. Anne Jarvis started things off with her keynote speech on ‘Thriving in Uncertain Times: Building on the Past, Positioning for the Future’. As the Dean of Libraries at Princeton University, Jarvis reflected on the university library’s North Star Statement which guides their strategic planning and emphasises user empowerment, diverse collections, and the creation of an integrated student experience. She also spoke about the importance of fostering relationships and collaboration with other institutions through the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP) which supports resource sharing to more effectively meet patrons' needs now and in the future.
'Thriving in Uncertain Times: Building on the Past, Positioning for the Future.' Speaker: Anne Jarvis, Princeton University Library.
Picture credit Michelle McMeekin. 

In the first breakout session, I attended a series of lightning talks that explored topics such as a special collections toolkit, a digital and information literacy framework, and even a library managing a bat population alongside their collections! Working in e-resources, I found Áine Rice’s presentation, ‘Beyond the 2020 Paradigm: Reimagining Partnerships Through Data-Driven eTextbook Provision’, particularly engaging. She discussed how the pandemic accelerated the digital shift, initially leading to crisis-driven provision. Now, however, ebook access can be strategically developed using data and analytics to enhance access to core texts.

For the final session I participated in a workshop held by Elaine Chapman and Jennifer Flynn from Technological University Dublin on ‘Editing the Digital Landscape’. Chapman and Flynn led an engaging workshop full of practical tips for promoting library services on social media, emphasizing the use of accessible, jargon-free language. They also shared useful guidance on writing effective alt text for images. I found the session especially beneficial for improving how we promote e-resources to students. Plus, they provided a fun worksheet to reinforce the learning—a definite bonus in my book!

Worksheet from the 'Editing the Digital Landscape' workshop by Elaine Chapman and Jennifer Flynn,
Technological University Dublin. Picture credit Michelle McMeekin. 

Attending CONUL was an invaluable experience that will greatly benefit me as I advance in my library career. It provided the chance to network with colleagues from different specialisations and engage directly with key suppliers we work with. I’m grateful to have attended through the bursary, and I highly encourage anyone interested in next year’s conference to apply—it’s a truly worthwhile opportunity.


Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 | Categories: