"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. 

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.

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.

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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 28^th and 29^th 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.

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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.

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Changing careers from tech into librarianship

This guest post is by Isabell Seeger, a soon-to-be MLIS graduate with a career background in linguistics and AI. In this blog post, she outlines her motivation for a career change from tech into librarianship - and the surprising parallels and transferable skills from one to the other.

Isabelle Seeger by the author, an artist's illustration of artificial intelligence by Google DeepMind from Pexels and close-up shot of books on a bookshelf by Mikhail Nilov via Pexels

Introduction

A year ago, I was a linguist who worked in AI, building language datasets and evaluating AI model output. Fast forward to now, and I am about to graduate with a MLIS degree from University College Dublin, getting ready for a career that may look very different on paper - but feels surprisingly aligned in practice. In this post, I wanted to share a bit about how I made the switch from tech to librarianship, and why I think this career pivot actually makes a lot of sense.

So, What Does a Linguist Do?

In Tech, my job was “teaching computers how to read and write” - my go-to tagline for parties where “computational linguist” would get polite but slightly confused nods. In practice, this meant creating model training data and running large-scale human evaluations to make sure that language-based AI systems met quality benchmarks and provided value to users. On a platform as large as LinkedIn, my previous employer, this often meant projects and products that were seen and used by millions of people. When I started my job, we were focused on Machine Learning models - now often called “traditional AI”. When ChatGPT came around, my role profile changed to include LLMs (Large Language Models), and we all became prompt engineering experts on the side.

Overall, it’s hard for me to sum up the role of a tech linguist, as we often wore many hats - project manager, technical writer for data annotation guidelines, data wrangler and analyst for data and model insights, and metadata expert for ontology and schema design, to name just a few. Which brings me to the next bit:

Switching to Librarianship

Working in tech gives you a front row seat for the work and money that goes into building AI systems, and just how ubiquitous they are in all our daily lives, whether we are aware of them or not. I always viewed my role as the “human in the loop” - crucial to ensure trust and quality. In the private sector, especially with mounting economic pressures, I slowly felt a noticeable shift from quality to quantity, from care to speed, from human review to “Can we do this with AI instead?” - a fair question to ask (I am not a Luddite - I am just a critical thinker), but more often than not, my inner voice had a resounding “no” as an answer, not always welcome.

A huge part of linguistic work in tech is making information digestible for AI systems, starting from representative data sampling to explicitly adding labels to data that goes into model training. The leap into information architecture is short, and many of my colleagues in similar roles (such as taxonomy) have a librarianship background. I found myself wanting to go the other way, to learn more about the values I associated with librarianship such as equal access to knowledge, and being intentional about the ethics of being an information professional - not just building systems, but thinking holistically about their impact. Surrounded by the questions of what we could do with information, I wanted to ask what we should do with it - and sometimes, if we should at all.

Back to School

As my decision to change careers solidified, I had to make a few decisions. Personally, I wanted to stay in Dublin (why Germans love Ireland is a topic for another post), and was delighted when I found the MLIS degree offered at UCD. In fact, my excited grin when reading the syllabus was probably all the decision-making fuel I needed.

Going back to school after working full-time for 6 years was humbling, but also refreshing. This is my second Master’s degree, and I can say that I approached it with more sincerity and diligence - I knew what I wanted to get out of it, and wanted to learn as much as I could. I organised my reading lists early, took copious notes, attended events, and audited several modules on top of my core curriculum to make the most of the limited time (one year is surprisingly short). I loved being able to organise my time more freely, meeting wonderful new people, and having insightful conversations about topics that mattered to me. It is a very gratifying experience to connect with people who care about similar things, and I deeply value my new friendships and budding professional network.

First-person perspective studying in UCD's James Joyce Library, showing an iPad,
comfy seating, and a water bottle. Picture credit Isabell Seeger 2024. 

Connecting LIS to Tech

Progressing through the curriculum, I realised more and more how transferable many of my tech skills were to the LIS space. Whether it is thinking about metadata for digital libraries, planning quantitative or qualitative research methodologies, or designing literacy instruction programmes - many of my “tech linguist” hats are applicable.

I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of technology-focused modules on the course, and attempts to bring AI to the classroom even in more traditional LIS areas such as cataloging. I strongly believe librarians need to be tech-literate. Using tools does not mean using them uncritically; in fact, I think informed and critical use of tech (be it ChatGPT or social media) is paramount for being a part of today’s society. Especially as librarians, we need to stay ahead of the curve, so we can provide AI and digital literacy instruction to people who need it.

The diverse background of people in my MLIS cohort was something I cherished deeply. I believe this is one of the strengths of the LIS sector - many of us come in through non-traditional pathways, and we can learn so much from each other by sharing our experiences and knowledge. I hope I will be able to bring fresh perspectives into my future roles in librarianship, and continue to be able to draw on previous experience to inform future thinking.

Looking Ahead

So, what kind of librarian do I want to be? As I reflect on my year of learning, I see a few pathways for myself. I want to keep my focus on technical and digital spaces - building a small digital library project was one of my favourite class assignments this year. As is probably no surprise, I am also passionate about AI literacy (here is another class project), and would love to help more people develop AI skills and critical thinking as they engage with tech and AI in their everyday lives.

Learning about the area of Research Data Management within academic librarianship got me really excited - having previously designed, collected, analysed, and stored various datasets in my linguist role, I feel a lot of my experience is applicable to RDM. I also love the idea of supporting research, and being able to contribute to open data and open scholarship.

Additionally, I was lucky to recently complete a 4-week internship in the Research Services team of the TU Dublin library, and I had a wonderful time learning about institutional repositories, research information management, and open research. I think my tech skills lend themselves well to a role in academic librarianship, but I am keeping my eyes and mind open, and am hopeful for my professional future, wherever it will lead me.

Some Takeaways

(Tech) linguists and librarians have a lot in common:

• We are the human in the loop, making connections from raw data to structured knowledge

• Many of the technical skills from the tech space are applicable (and desired!) in librarianship - we love a good spreadsheet

• When you tell people your job title, they have no idea what you do, but they think it sounds really cool. 

If you are a fellow career changer, or have any questions or thoughts, feel free to email me via isabell.seeger@email.de, or connect with me on LinkedIn - old habits die hard!

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Libfocus Link-out for June 2025

Welcome to the June 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.

Images from this month's link-out articles

Setting out a methodological framework for undertaking effective reviews of national prison library services: Design of an inclusive methodology for the Irish Prison Library Review.
This study by Jessica Bates, Jayne Finlay and Susannah Hanlon conducts a a national review of prison library services on the island of Ireland. It identifies that library services in Irish prisons are inconsistently staffed and organised, and the challenge within prison librarianship involves closing the gap between international standards and policies, and the state of provision on the ground. This research will be of interest to those working and wanting to work in prison libraries (see also this piece for additional contextual input).

Google AI Overviews Are Here to Stay.
In College and Research Libraries News, Tessa Withorn writes about the nature of AI-generated overviews Google Search provides and notes that, from her experience, the highest quality of evidence (i.e. peer-reviewed studies) is rarely cited. This is a snappy and informative insight on Google's AI Overviews.

The Symbolic Weight of Yale-NUS’s Discarded Books.
The disposal of thousands of Yale-NUS library books has ignited a profound conversation about institutional memory and the handling of academic legacies. This article by Kimberly Lim & Alden Ho delves into the symbolic implications of such actions and the broader questions they raise.

Behind the Curtain: AI. Automation, and the Looming Threat to Human Knowledge Work.
A thought-provoking exploration of AI's potential to disrupt white-collar professions, this piece delves into the looming challenges and the imperative for proactive strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of knowledge work.

The resilience of open science in times of crisis.
Jeroen Bosman and Jeroen Sondervan provide an overview of five types of threats to open science in Upstream, and also propose a simple resilience framework of how to deal with these threats.

‘AI is already eating its own’: Prompt engineering is quickly going extinct.
Three years into the boom, it looks like AI is reshaping existing jobs more than creating new ones. There might not be many “AI Librarian jobs” emerging (as some of us have thought recently).

The Red List of Endangered Crafts - UK.
Heritage Crafts have released the 2025 Red List of Endangered Crafts in the UK. Many of the crafts involved in traditional book making, design, and decoration feature from endangered to critically so. This report by Mary Lewis and Daniel Carpenter also highlights the support being made available to prolong the life of traditional craft and skills.

Award-Winning San Francisco State University Sustainable Materials Library by SFSU Design to Launch This Summer.
San Francisco State University to launch its Sustainable Materials Library this summer. This Ein Presswire article reports that the Sustainable Materials Library collection contains 5 x 5 samples of sustainable materials, aiming to serve as an inspiration for designers, architects, engineers, artists, creators, and anyone looking to explore materials that prioritize sustainability without compromising functionality.

Bookcited!: A Libraries NI podcast for all things library: SongBooks.
Discover the connections between songs and the books that inspired them with the Songbooks series, which is part of Bookcited!: A Libraries NI podcast for all things library. Explore Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana inspired by Patrick Suskind's Perfume and many more.

The Ultimate LGBTQ+ Pride Book List.
Celebrate Pride month with these recommended Penguin Random House books by LGBTQ+ authors. This list includes everything from inspirational memoirs to novels examining friendship, love and community.

State of Library Engagement in Climate Communication and Education.
A recent IFLA report looking at how libraries around the world are helping their communities get involved in climate action, and can be used as both an advocacy tool and a roadmap for further developing library work on climate communication and education.

A Guide to Publishing Open Access.
A comprehensive guide produced by Lancaster University Library to publishing Open Access monographs, books and more.

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Censorship – some thoughts and current issues for libraries

Guest post by Paraic Elliott, DCU Library.

A useful definition from The Cambridge Dictionary: “The action of preventing part or the whole of a book, film, work of art, document, or other kind of communication from being seen or made available to the public, because it is considered to be offensive or harmful, or because it contains information that someone wishes to keep secret, often for political reasons.” 

Examples of banned books in Ireland

• Married Love - banned by the Irish Censorship Board for discussing birth control.
• The Dark - Banned in Ireland for issues related to obscenity.

A list of reasons material may be censored.

• Religious affiliation or authority – On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, has been supressed and challenged since publication in 1859 due to its discussion of the theory of evolution.
• Witchcraft – Harry Potter was challenged in many US states due to themes of this nature.
• Violence or negativity: The Anarchist Cookbook, by William Powell, was banned in 1971 and is still banned in many countries, for fears that it might "promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence."
• Racial issues -To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, has been censored for many years due to the use of racial slurs within the texts.
• Political influence – In 1958, the Irish Censorship of Publications Board banned the book Borstal Boy because of critiques of Irish republicanism, social attitudes and the Catholic Church.
• LGBTQ+ Content – The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall, was banned from 1928 to 1949 in the UK due to lesbian themes the book presents.

Online/digital censorship

Internet censorship is the practice of prohibiting or suppressing certain online content. When a type of content is censored, it generally becomes illegal and near-impossible to access or view as long as you’re within the jurisdiction of the censoring body. In some instances, publishing censored content is also illegal.

A University of Michigan team used Censored Planet, an automated censorship tracking system launched in 2018, by Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Roya Ensafi, to collect more than 21 billion measurements over 20 months in 221 countries. Ensafi’s team found that censorship is increasing in 103 of the countries studied, including unexpected places like Norway, Japan, Italy, India, Israel and Poland—countries which the paper notes are rated as some of the freest in the world by advocacy group Freedom House.

Libraries as centres of potential controversy

AI-generated books - library - mystic from pixabay.com

Censorship a relevant topic today?

Research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the UK’s library and information association, found that a third of librarians had been asked by members of the public to censor or remove books, indicating that such incidents “had increased significantly in recent years”, according to CILLIP’s chief executive, Nick Poole. The most targeted books involve themes of empire, race and LGBTQ+.

In recent years a number of right wing and conspiracy theory fuelled groups have staged protests at numerous Irish libraries. One event was billed as Cork Says No, and was organised by the leaders of Ireland’s newest far-right political party, Ireland First. Among these was a protest against the availability of LGBTQ+ reading materials for children at the library. While the banner and choosing the library as a location made it seem as though this was the central issue, the main speakers focussed on different topics such as climate change and vaccination material.

There are some arguments pro censorship

Advocates argue that censorship may be the only way to protect vulnerable minorities, new ones and old ones alike, from potential harm and violence.

• Censorship can protect children from unhealthy content.
• Censorship protects the rights of artists, innovators, and inventors – copyright is a form of censorship.
• Censorship can limit the impact of identity theft.
• Censorship can provide another level of security to a country’s profile.
• Censorship provides us with a vehicle to stop false content.

There are some arguments against censorship

• It represses one group of people in favour of what the majority wants.
• It allows people to create a specific narrative in society to call it truth.
• It prevents an individual from expressing themselves freely.

IFLA states that: Censorship, arguably, runs counter to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

New guidelines designed for libraries in the UK urge staff to provide materials that “illuminate” different views on controversial topics. This 52-page document, released by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), states that a “good library” should “encompass controversial issues” and that material should not be rejected solely on the basis that it is considered contentious.

Recommendations for libraries

They recommend that in collection development specifically, attempt to reflect the full range of opinion on controversial topics or the full range of diversity in the national context, basing decisions on what to purchase or license on professional considerations (quality, currency, format, cost, etc.), rather than as limited by political or religious considerations or cultural prejudice.

They suggest libraries make an effort to educate library users on issues of censorship and encourage them to favour and practice freedom of expression and freedom of access to information in their personal and professional lives.

Further recommendations suggest that as much as possible, ensure libraries are able to use technology to preserve freedom of access to information and expression and the ability to communicate freely on the internet. They suggest that institutions support library and information services (and their employees) that are being challenged on issues related to censorship.

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Libfocus Link-out for May 2025

Welcome to the May 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.

Images from this month's link-out articles

Can libraries help solve our connection crisis?
Shamichael Hallman is the author of a newly-released book, Meet Me at the Library: A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy, which examines the role of public libraries as an antidote to the growing loneliness, isolation and mistrust in America.

Why I have resigned from the Clarivate Customer Advisory Board.
Dominic Broadhurst has stepped down from the Clarivate Customer Advisory Board, following changes to the company’s academic access model. In a statement on LinkedIn he reflects on the implications of the shift from perpetual to subscription-based access for libraries and the academic community.
Note: The linkedIn piece would require people to be logged in but it is a good piece!

To Complete the Open Access Transition, First Ask the Right Questions.
Malavika Legge of the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) finds in the Katina Magazine that about 50% of scholarly content published 2010-2024 is now available openly. But while the Open Access landscape is getting more mature we need a “course correction” to complete Open Access.

As cuts mount, those used to one-click searching are in for a shock.
Caroline Ball reports in the Times Higher Education that the current ease of access to pre-packaged information bundles stemming from “big deals” may have inadvertently led to a decline in the proficiency of certain research skills among academics.

President Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
In this Associated Press article, Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro cover Trump's abrupt firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. The move shows Trump's determination to remove government officials from office who do not agree with his policies.

Pope Leo XIV speaks out against AI: ‘A challenge of human dignity, justice and labour.
The Independent's Barney Davis reports on the speech given by Pope Leo XIV about the challenges posed by AI. The newly appointed leader of the Catholic church echoes the concerns of his predecessor about the "grave, existential concerns that have been raised by ethicists and human rights advocates" about the technology.

The Line between Canada and the US Cuts through the Haskell Free Library | The Walrus.
Jordan Heath Rawlings for The Walrus looks at Haskell Free Library, where a line of duct tape runs through the library’s centre, marking the United States from Canada, and how it has become a political battleground.

Smarthistory – What is art provenance? A Getty Research Institute case study.
A case study by Dr. Sandra van Ginhoven, Head, Getty Provenance Index, Getty Research Institute and Dr. Steven Zucker tracing the provenance of a painting via the archives of M. Knoedler & Co, following the re-modelling of the Getty Provenance Index. The Getty Provenance Index draws on primary archival material such as auction catalogues and trader stock books making more than 12 million records publicly available to aid in the tracing of artwork provenance.

When ChatGPT Writes Your Research Proposal: Scientific Creativity in the Age of Generative AI.
The authors of this study use a scientific creativity task to investigate the extent to which AI can generate creative ideas in the scientific context. They asked students to write and prompted ChatGPT to generate a brief version of a research proposal. Using a structured (blinded) rating, two experts from the field evaluated students’ research proposals and proposals generated by ChatGPT in terms of their scientific creativity. The results may (or may not) surprise you!

Munin conference: Deadline for Call for submissions -- 8th June.
The Munin Conference covers a variety of topics in scholarly communication, with a focus on open science. This year’s Munin encourages submissions on the following topics:

• Open science in a closing world
• Indigenous rights in research
• Transparency and replicability in science
• Repairing the gaps in research infrastructure
• Agency
  

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Reclaiming Hidden Histories: Cataloguing the Ó Sé Family Collection on Cape Clear

This guest post is by Kevin Tuohy, a librarian and historian from Cork. He holds a Master’s in Library and Information Studies and currently works on archival and heritage projects across Ireland, with a focus on Irish-language collections, local history, and cultural preservation.

Cape Clear Island, overhead view, from the Cork County Council website.

Introduction

In early 2025, I undertook a five-month archival and cataloguing project for the Cape Clear Heritage Centre in West Cork. The task: to process a large, unorganised bundle of personal papers, photographs, political pamphlets, and handwritten manuscripts belonging to the Ó Sé and Ó Coindhealbháin families. Donated to Dr Éamon Lankford’s Cartlann Chléire (Lankford Cape Clear Collection), the materials offered a rich but chaotic insight into 20th-century Irish cultural, linguistic, and political life.

This article outlines the process of transforming these vulnerable historical fragments into a structured, bilingual archive. It serves as a case study in applied library science, independent heritage work, and archival interpretation in a minority language context.

Project Background

The Ó Sé Family Collection (LCC58) was donated in 2024 by the descendants of the late Mícheál Ó Sé and Íde Bean Uí Shé, leading Irish-language and cultural figures. Their legacy, alongside that of Íde’s father, Seán Ó Coindhealbháin, and son Cian Ó Sé, touches on themes of Irish-language activism, Cork republicanism, women in sport, maritime traditions, and local folklore.

The collection, however, arrived at the Heritage Centre as a single, unlabelled bundle — with no existing catalogue, finding aid, or storage structure.

The archival collection pictured in the archive room of Áras na Gaeilge, Cork City. Picture credit Kevin Tuohy 2025.

Methodology and Arrangement

The first stage was forensic-level appraisal. Without existing metadata, I grouped materials by provenance, condition, and language — with my fluency in Irish (including older orthographies and an Cló Gaelach), proving essential.

From there, I arranged the materials into 11 folders, each based on a principal figure and subdivided into themes: e.g. “Camogie and Women in Sport,” “Republican Commemoration,” “Irish-Language Journalism,” and “Maritime Research.”

Using consistent folder-level and item-level description, I produced an annotated, bilingual catalogue to archival standards. I prioritised contextual metadata: identifying obscure references, translating handwritten Irish-language documents, and linking materials to events such as the Fleadh Ceoil movement or the long-running Féile an Oireachtais festival.

The Ó Sé family collection divided into 13 folders. Picture credit Kevin Tuohy 2025.

Challenges Encountered

• Many items were undated, handwritten, or incomplete.
  
  
• Materials were in older forms of Irish, requiring careful transcription and translation.
  
  
• Interpretation required significant historical and political contextualisation to distinguish between personal and public documents.
  
  
• The diversity of formats — essays, letters, pamphlets, artefacts, press cuttings — necessitated a flexible, inclusive cataloguing schema.
  
  
• Cataloguing this collection effectively also required an extensive knowledge of 20th Irish history, and Cork local history in order to fully understand the cultural, social and chronological context, and the milieu of Irish language revival, nationalist politics, and a understanding of Cork city cultural and social life in a period of time from 1890 - 2010. 
  
  
• A knowledge of early 20th century Irish language publications, and key figures in the Irish language movement in Cork City in this period, was also essential.

Deliverables

• A detailed catalogue of over 300 individually described items.
  
  
• Folder-level descriptions, grouped by individual and theme.
  
  
• Bilingual contextual annotations for researcher accessibility.
  
  
• A physical arrangement plan and conservation-friendly storage system, now implemented.
  
  
• The compilation of detailed biographies relevant to the collection

Biographical information

Based on the knowledge I gained from studying these previously private collections—alongside interviews with surviving family members of the four individuals covered in this catalogue—I was able to compile detailed biographical material. I also drew on publications available online, at Cork City Library, and from primary and secondary sources within the Lankford Cape Clear Collection.

This broader context, compiled largely by esteemed historian, author, and Irish-language scholar Dr Éamon Lankford, provided valuable insights into the Irish language movement in Cork City and its surrounding areas during the 20th century.

Using this information, I created detailed biographies in both the Irish and English language for all four individuals in the catalogue. These biographies were designed to assist and inform researchers interested in the subject.

All biographical information was reviewed and confirmed by a surviving family member, Colm Ó Sé.

New building on Cape Clear Island which will hold the newly refurbished Cape Clear Heritage Centre. Image from echolive.ie.

Impact and Significance

The collection is now research-ready and preserved in archival-safe conditions in Cartlann Chléire funded generously by Cork County Council, Údarás na Gaeilge and Fáilte Ireland. Its scholarly value spans Irish studies, gender history, maritime heritage, political history, and Irish-language activism. It is now the property of Cork County Council, and will soon be available for researchers in what is set to be one of Ireland's most important publicly accessible archives for researchers interested in the history of Cape Clear, the Gaeltacht, West Cork and maritime life among a wide variety of other topics.

The Ó Sé Collection has been numbered No.58 in a comprehensive 60 part collection of priceless artefacts, documents, facsimiles, manuscripts, and press material related to Cape Clear, West Cork and the Irish language in Cork city and county.

What makes the Ó Sé collection especially unique is its multi-generational scope: a family archive that reflects the evolving story of cultural resistance and civic engagement in Irish life across the 20th century.

Reflections

This project highlighted how local archives — often under-resourced and outside institutional structures — hold hidden national treasures. It also underscored the value of linguistic skill, cultural literacy, and patience in archival work, especially in minority language or politically sensitive contexts.

Cataloguing the Ó Sé Family Collection was an act of both preservation and interpretation. It demonstrated the potential of librarianship and archival practice not just to store history, but to reclaim it.

Further information about the Cape Clear Heritage Centre and Archive:

Cork County Council. (n.d.) Leabharlann Oileán Chléire. Corkcoco.ie.   https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/directory/amenities/libraries/leabharlann-oilean-chleire

Cork 96 FM News Team. (2024, October). Cape Clear Island library officially reopens. 96fm.ie. https://www.96fm.ie/news/96fm-news-and-sport/cape-clear-island-library-officially-re-opens/

Lankford, É. (2020) Cape Clear Island Archive / Cartlann Chléire. Cape Clear Island Museum. https://capeclearmuseum.ie/archive/

A description of the archival collection and sub-collections at the Cape Clear Heritage Centre Archive (currently closed to the public pending the reopening of the museum and archive).

Mac Sweeney, T. (2023, September). Going Clear: Islanders plan big welcome for summer visitors. Echolive.ie. https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41229889.html

If you have queries about the project please contact Kevin Tuohy (Ó Tuathaigh) at kevinotuathaigh@gmail.com or via LinkedIn

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Murder on the Library Floor: My First Experience Presenting at the A&SL Libraries Conference

 This guest post is by Jorden McMenamin who is the Research and Innovation Communications Officer at Atlantic Technological University.

On the 27th of March, I did my first ever presenting experience for the Academic & Special Libraries (A&SL) Conference at the Museum of Literature Ireland in Co Dublin.  

After 25 years of life, I had managed to successfully evade crowds and kept my work hidden in the shadows. A library has often been perceived as a quiet place (no pun intended—I have seen the movie!) where staff and students conduct our activities in silence. This was until we hosted a ‘crazy library event’ for our first year induction at the Yeats Library, ATU Sligo. Our murder mystery style treasure-hunt was an alternative to the traditional library induction tour. We delivered it to nearly 100 first-year students across two nights. This activity was featured on a broader campus-wide initiative called the #First5Weeks programme held at ATU Sligo by the Student Services Team.  

Staff and students at the Murder Mystery Event in the Yeats Library, ATU Sligo. Picture credit: Jorden McMenamin. 

After the event took place, our incredible Head Librarian, Dr Johanna Archbold recommended myself and my colleague, Mark Mulholland, attend a conference to showcase our efforts and gain recognition for such an achievement. From November, we continuously scouted for conferences that would thematically match our event but also offered beginner-friendly opportunities to connect with others.  As someone new to the library community, I felt it was vital to seek out a welcoming and supportive environment. When the theme for the A&SL Conference was released in December 2024 for “Cultivating Connection: Libraries Championing Quality, Well-Being, and Inclusivity”, we knew it was a perfect fit!  

Initially, I proposed we go for the poster option as the format to present at the conference. I considered design to be one of my most comfortable routes…and it continued my streak of presentation evasion. I filled out the form and emailed our poster concept and our details to the committee. In response, we received an email from Deirdre McGuinness, one of the many superb organisers of the conference, who suggested we present our project as a case study instead and take part in a Q&A session. This was unexpected, but an amazing opportunity to be recognised for our work, so I decided to take advantage of this. In fairness to Mark, he usually tends to run with my ‘mad’ ideas so while it had been over fifteen years since he last presented, he agreed to join me in co-presenting. I opted for ten minutes to keep it short ‘n’ sweet (not unlike our Sabrina Carpenter references!) which resulted in us speaking for five minutes each. 

In preparation, I created a presentation that reflected the quirky nature of our Murder Mystery & Games night event. It was filled with pictures of the students, staff, and included a surprise cameo from Tom Cruise in our slide deck, just to keep things lively. The concept was to show how our library brought together a diverse mix of students to an event that supported inclusivity, belonging, and introduced students to the library. Some of the ways we described this was referencing both the literature of other libraries who conducted treasure hunt tours and the experiences we had in organising, promoting and gathering feedback on our event. By concentrating on these three areas, we devised a script to bring to the conference as a way of combating any potential nerves…the most anxiety-driving part is forgetting everything. 

Sample slide from the ATU presentation featuring an outline of the event's key objectives.
Image of Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible copyright Paramount Pictures 1996.

The day itself was an incredibly sunny morning outside the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) on St Stephen’s Green where nearly thirty librarians had congregated before the event at 9:30am. Once the doors opened, we were greeted by such remarkable positivity from the organisers - plus goodie bags with name badges and participation certificates (a bonus for the collectors among us!). The museum itself fitted the atmosphere perfectly given its artistic and literary-themed atmosphere and architecture. As we took our seats, we were invited to listen to several presentations and case studies from speakers and librarians, including Helen Rimmer on kindness in the workplace, Martin O’Connor on his creation of the Shush! Sounds from UCC Library radio podcast show, and Claire McGuinness for defending LGBTQ+ resources to name but a few. 

Before presenting, one of the things we were asked was an interesting fact about ourselves. Coincidentally two of the case study presenters were both twins (separate families!), and another never drank coffee before. Between talks there were opportunities for networking with other librarians and library staff, discussions on posters and case studies, to get to know each other. It made for a very relaxing environment of camaraderie and connection.  

The organisers took their time to demonstrate how our slides would be displayed, the order of who would be presenting, and the timing. Presenters sat as a panel at the front of the room, so after each talk, the audience could ask follow-up questions about our work. Before going up to talk, I was pretty much glued to our script and ensured that both Mark and I needed to learn it off by heart. Once you go up on stage, however, you forget nearly half of the points you were going to say and end up going with the flow! 

I was having too much fun feeling like a weather girl clicking the button to change the slides on the TV as Mark commenced his section of the talk. Once it came to my turn, I did disclose that I had never presented before in case it went terribly wrong, but this was a happy surprise to the organisers or the room of genuinely supportive librarians and speakers. Once the nerves had gone, you felt as if you were talking to a room of people you had known your whole life and who resonated with your ideas. 

What I found most rewarding about this experience was getting to speak to professionals in the field and learn ways that libraries are contributing to their communities. Hearing the stories of what others have accomplished or are trying to change for the better is a key part of attending conferences, alongside sharing your own experiences.  

Picture of panellists left to right: Martin O'Connor, Grace O'Connor, Jorden McMenamin and Mark Mulholland. Picture credit Susan Brodigan/A&SL Libraries Committee 2025.

As a first-time speaker, this conference provided the most comfortable platform for us to share the work myself and Mark had done for ATU Sligo. It was anything but a baptism of fire and more like a confirmation of trust! I would definitely recommend anyone to go and hopefully I do get to watch next time as I have officially ticked presenting off of my bucket list. 

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