Building a Library Without Walls: Rethinking Library Systems Through an Argentine Community Library in Ireland

This guest post is by Nadina Yedid, Assistant Librarian with Children's Health Ireland.

There’s a saying that goes, “They didn’t know it was impossible, so they did it”. This is the story of how I met an extraordinary group of people, who didn’t know it was impossible to build a library without a reading room, a storage space, or an LMS. So, we did it.

How it started

It was mid-2025 when I received a WhatsApp message from a colleague from my home country (Argentina). It was a link to an article in a local newspaper that read “A group of Rosarinos (i.e. from the city of Rosario in Argentina) created the first library of Argentine literature in Ireland” . The article explained that the founders of the project had come together out of a shared love of literature, but also as a way to recreate spaces they had in Argentina, to gather as a community, and to provide one of the things most migrants leave behind when we move: our books, in our native language. The article introduced some of the people behind the project, the idea that moved it, and had a few photos of the people building the project. But that was all. Saying I was intrigued is an understatement. Where was this library? What were the opening hours? Could I go visit? Was there an OPAC? And above all, were all these people from the photos Argentine librarians living in Ireland like me? I did some research and was able to find an Instagram account that I started to follow. I wanted to reach out, ask if they needed any help, but I worried that I might not have much to contribute. Surely there were other librarians in the group - and most likely better than myself. 

A few months passed with no news, and suddenly, a post: Book Club - Saturday October 18th - Charleville Mall Library. 

I attended the Book Club with the secret mission of finding out more about this library. To my surprise - or maybe not? - there were over 20 people taking part in the activity. The session included a round of presentations, throughout which I managed to keep my cover intact, without disclosing my secret librarian identity. By the end of the round I had realised none of the organisers or attendees had claimed to be a librarian. Were they also keeping their identity a secret? Or maybe there were no librarians in this library? I began to suspect, maybe this was a different kind of library than the ones I knew before. By the end of the session, the meeting gave way to informal chatter within the attendees. I had so far gathered only very vague information about the library, so I took a more direct method of research and started asking straight: “But where is the library? Where do you keep the books? What books do you have?” That is how I found out the library “Biblioteca María Elena Walsh” does not have a physical location. The books are donations from the community and authors, and they are stored in the houses of the people behind the project. They had an Excel file with around 200 book titles, and they wanted to build a catalogue, but none of them were librarians and they didn’t know how to do it. That was the moment when I let my guard down and revealed my true identity. When I told one of the organisers I was a librarian she was delighted to discover there was a library professional among us. I was immediately invited to join the project.

Building “The System”: the challenges

When I joined the first meeting of the group they were concerned about having a system that would allow them to share the books that were available through the library and lend them to other members of the Argentine/Spanish-speakers community in Ireland. The idea behind it was simple: there were people who hold books, and there were people who wanted to read books, they just needed a way to connect them. Since the library didn’t have a physical space for patrons to browse the shelves, they needed a way to let the community know which books were available. And since the library didn’t have a reading room, they needed their patrons to be able to borrow the books and read them at home. So essentially, an OPAC and a circulation module. 

By the time I got to them, some of the members had made enquiries with local librarians known to them. They were told, of course, that they needed an LMS, and were recommended to find out more about Koha. The group was divided between those who wanted to implement a more traditional library management system from the outset, this meant getting Koha installed on a server, catalogue the books properly, and manage all loans in the circulation module. Others felt that might take a moment, and it was better to just circulate the Excel file with the book titles, and have another Excel file to register loans and returns. I myself had mixed feelings. On the one hand, as a librarian, I felt it was my obligation to tell them “how things should be done the right way”, but on the other hand, I was afraid that if we waited to have everything perfect to launch it, we would end up not doing it at all.

Installing Koha presented a few problems: first and foremost, I didn’t have the technical expertise to implement it. Although I had worked with the system before, it had always been as a cataloguer, with a system already installed and parameters set by Interleaf. Hiring someone to do the job would have involved costs that the library, at that time, could not afford. Then, there was the problem of cataloguing the books in MARC format. Since the books were scattered across different homes, it would have been impossible for me to access all 200 volumes to catalogue them with the item in hand. So, this needed to be a collective work, where each “book holder” could enter the data of the books they stored. However, the idea of teaching a group of people with no prior library training how to catalogue a book in MARC format was out of the question. So, I began to wonder, perhaps Koha wasn’t the right solution? Maybe a library that is different to all the libraries I knew before required a different system to the ones I had used in the past.

All the books in the library were donations, so there was no real need for an acquisitions module. All materials were monographs, so no serials module required. All the borrowers would be end users, so no need for an ILL module either. The collection itself was composed mostly by widely renowned books that would almost certainly be available for copy cataloguing in many other catalogues or… platforms? It suddenly felt obvious.

Building “The System”: the solution

We live in an era in which almost all social activities are mediated by digital platforms. There are platforms to travel, platforms to meet people, platforms to share your photos, your videos, your research, and more. There is a platform for almost anything you might want. There had to be a platform to share your collection of books. I did some research and discovered there is actually more than one, but among them was one that seemed to have pretty much what we needed: LibraryThing.

LibraryThing  is a lightweight, web-based cataloguing platform that allows users to create and manage bibliographic records online. It can be thought of as something similar to Goodreads, but with a stronger focus on bibliographic metadata and structured cataloguing rather than on sharing opinions and reviews. Once you’ve created your account you can start adding books to ‘Your Library’ by copy cataloguing, importing records, or creating original records. The platform also links to a feature called “TinyCat”  that turns your LibraryThing catalogue into a library OPAC and provides a small circulation system for loans. It allows for institutional accounts, which, depending on their size and type can pay as little as €3 per month. 

I presented the idea to the rest of the group and we decided this system would do for the moment, at least until we have figured out whether we needed Koha or not. I recorded a short training video on how to add a book to our library. LibraryThing allows users to copy catalogue from many different institutions, such as the Library of Congress or the British Library. The sources from which you want to allow copy cataloguing can be edited, and we were able to add the Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (the National Library of Argentina). This library produces a lot of MARC records readily available through Z39.50 protocol, and it’s one of the most robust and reliable sources of records for Argentine literature.

 

Figure 1. Adding records through copy cataloguing

A few books from the library could not be found for copy cataloguing. Especially, donations from self-published authors, that didn’t have a bibliographic record available in other libraries. In those cases, we added the records manually, using a structured, field‑based metadata form rather than MARC records. The interface presents a simplified, metadata‑driven form for manual data entry that is very intuitive and only requires minor explanations for those who have not received library training. Again, the fields for manual entry can be customised to meet the needs of the collection.

 

Figure 2. Part of the template to manually input a record in LibraryThing

Once the collection has been built, you can either direct your patrons to your LibraryThing account, where they can see a full list of your holdings, including circulation information, for a more browseable experience. Or you can point them to your TinyCat site, for a more search-oriented experience.

 

Figure 3. View of the full collection list, with lending information

Figure 4. View of the search interface of TinyCat 

The “TinyCat” feature also enables a small circulation module which allowed us to create our own Patrons database. As expressed in the Privacy and TOS  LibraryThing is assumed to be in the position of data processor, and the institutions in the position of data controller, managing the data of their data subjects. So, it is the institution’s responsibility to ensure GDPR compliance for their data subjects, including collecting consent, managing consent-revocation, enabling access, etc. In our case, we did this by requesting all of our patrons who wanted to be registered in the library to complete a Google Form. The form included consent and adherence to the Maria Elena Walsh Library policies and regulations.

Once the patrons database starts to be built up, books can be checked out, returned, placed on hold, or other custom status. Preferences can be set for lending times, automatic emails to be sent to borrowers at the time of borrowing a book, reminders of coming due dates, and overdue items. The feature includes an option for patrons self-check in/out of books, and a patron interface with username and password access, although these options have not been used by our library yet. The system also facilitates reports to monitor activity by books and patrons. The only downside we have noticed is that the system does not seem to allow for reservation of books that are currently on loan. It appears the books can have only one status, either they are checked out, or reserved, but can’t be both checked out to one patron and reserved to another. Yet, for us, this is a small detail in comparison with the great benefits it offers.

 

Figure 5. General view of the TinyCat admin page

How it’s going

LibraryThing provided the catalogue and the circulation module, but we still needed a procedure. We created a website, bibliowalsh.org, where users could be pointed to find all the relevant information they needed to borrow books from the library - and to see the other many projects and activities the library is involved in. The website included links to a “how to borrow books” page, the library regulations, the catalogue, and the registration form.

The procedure is simple: anybody over 18 years old can register with the library for free. To do so they must complete the form available on the website and tick that they agree to the library policies and regulations. Library regulations can be found on the website, but are also hyperlinked on the registration form, for full transparency. After registering, the person receives a confirmation email, and can start borrowing books. Loans are for free; each patron can borrow one book at the same time - for now at least. They can keep it for 30 days and renew their loan for another 15 days. There are no fines for late returns, as the library works as a collaborative project and we expect to have the respect from all of our users. After registering, the person can visit our catalogue, choose from the database the book they would like to read, and email us to coordinate a collection time and location. Books can be collected from the library member who is housing the book, or can be brought to one of the library’s activities in town.

The launching of the lending system was marked with an Open Mic Night at the end of April. Since then - less than two months ago - we’ve had over 30 people signed up to register with the library. We have lent 8 books, to 7 different borrowers, and we expect to reach more and more people as word-of-mouth spreads. We have also received more donations, and we are about to reach the 290 books. Seeing these results, I can’t help but wonder: would we be in the same place if we had implemented Koha?

Final reflection

A library without walls poses a challenge to our traditional ideas of what a library is. It is possible that if I had come across this project while it was still just “an idea” I would have dismissed it myself, thinking “it is impossible”. But I think that, in this particular case, the fact that they started without a librarian on the team may actually have been what made the project possible. Simply because there was no one there to tell them this couldn’t be done. By the time I joined the team the project was already ongoing, they needed solutions, not criticism. This put me in a place where I had to rethink my own knowledge about how library services are built. What level of bibliographic quality is good enough? When does accessibility matter more than perfection? Which library tasks can be democratised? What is the role of librarians in community-led projects? My learning from this project is that traditional library systems are not always the best solution for grassroots libraries. Community needs and resources should shape library systems, rather than the other way around. And above all, as in most aspects of life, we need to be flexible - perhaps not an easy task for a librarian.

Looking back, I think the most important lesson is that libraries are built by communities before they are built by systems. Catalogues, circulation modules, and policies are important, but they are only meaningful when they support a genuine community need. In our case, technology did not create the library; it simply helped a community that already existed to share its books more effectively. The real foundation was a group of people determined to create a space for books, language, and community, even without the resources that libraries are traditionally expected to have.

As one of the latest Instagram posts from the Biblioteca María Elena Walsh says: “We are still growing, between books, gatherings, and the will to share. This is only the beginning… Subscribe.”

Figure 6. Instagram post from Biblioteca María Elena Walsh

Read More

Review of The Academic & Special Libraries Conference 2026

Guest post by Dina Gorelik. Dina is an MLIS Student at University College Dublin

At the end of March, I had the pleasure of attending the LAI Academic and Special Libraries Conference 2026: Reimagining Librarianship: Purpose, Practice, and Possibility as one of the A&SL Bursary recipients. Throughout my MLIS coursework, professors and students have discussed the changing nature of the library profession and the challenges of this time. I was excited to be able to attend the conference to hear from professionals on the ground on what they consider the challenges and core fundamentals of librarianship today, and I was pleasantly surprised with the recurring themes discussed throughout the day, including the importance of reflective practice and using data to justify decision making in libraries and information settings.

The morning keynote speaker, Liz Jolly (University College Cork), set the tone and brought up themes which recurred throughout the day most notably speaking on the importance of reflective practice and relentless optimism as a tool for the onward journey. I was surprised to hear about reflective practice so early in the day; the concept of reflective practice has been an unexpected recurring topic of conversation throughout my MLIS coursework, and its early reference in the day solidified the importance of reflection in my future professional work.

After the morning keynote, there were two parallel sessions, and I chose to attend the one on Open Scholarship, a topic new to me but one I am interested in learning more about. The speakers discussed initiatives in individual universities as well as national initiatives to promote open access scholarship and publishing. Margaret Irons (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies) and Colm O’Connor (Innopharma Education) were particularly inspiring in their talks on spearheading new projects. Irons spoke about her project to create an open access repository of CELTICA, the publication of the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Her internal advocacy began in 2016, and the repository launched in 2025, a reminder that patience and thinking long-term are vital to these sorts of projects. Colm O’Connor also shared a librarian led initiative at Innopharma Education to support student publications. O’Connor identified that students were producing high quality work but were intimidated by traditional academic publishing so he began Innopharma Insights, a journal to highlight the promising student research he was seeing. Now in its second volume, the journal is produced with the available resources of the team; for example, the journal is formatted in-house using Microsoft Word.

The afternoon session had a variety of speakers talking about collections and metadata initiatives, redesigning services, and career reflections. Two speakers spoke about evaluating and reevaluating services at their academic libraries: Genevieve Larkin (Marino Institute of Education) and Francisca Silva (Dublin Business School). Larkin spoke about the development of a five year operational plan to address tensions between the ambitions of library employees versus available resources. She discussed the power of prioritisation in assessing capacity of staff and resources. Silva led the library website redesign project at Dublin Business School. She discussed pulling in user experience and information architecture principles in conducting user research and testing, as well as developing a more cohesive library website layout. I was excited and surprised that these talks solidified the importance of using research and data to demonstrate and justify decision making in libraries, as it has been a recurring topic in my coursework.

Ultimately, I came away inspired by the commitment of professionals to their work, finding ways to serve their users and themselves as thoughtfully, resourcefully, and sustainably as possible. Throughout the day, speakers discussed identifying issues and taking initiative to create something better, often collaborating with colleagues and users to come up with the best solutions. Attendees were open to discussion and chatting with people they did not know, creating a warm and approachable atmosphere throughout the day; I met a lot of lovely librarians and students and left feeling reassured that, despite the uncertainty of the current moment, librarians and information professionals will continue to provide the best service they can, and I am excited to join in the work. The afternoon keynote speaker, Niamh Tumelty (London School of Economics and Political Science), said that she is confident about the future of libraries, and so am I.

Author’s note: Thank you to the Academic and Special Libraries Committee for the bursary to attend the 2026 Conference.

Read More

Prison Education Programme

Guest post by Helen Fallon. 

It’s almost three years since I retired from my post as Deputy Librarian at Maynooth University Library, having worked there for 22 years.  Prior to that I worked at Dublin City University (DCU) Library.  While at DCU I took a career break and spent two years with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) teaching librarianship at the University of Sierra Leone.  This was a wonderful experience and gave me a real insight into how difficult it is to provide library services in a country where a book frequently costs a week’s wages or more. I’ve written about that experience (Fallon, 1994, 2003, 2006, 2017) and maintained a real interest in libraries in Africa. I  feel very strongly that libraries underpin education, which is key to development in African countries.   

 At the moment I am involved in a project to help develop a prison library in Malawi, in South East Africa, one of the poorest countries, in the world. I got involved in this through my sister’s  brother-in-law, Fr. Martin Reilly, who has worked there for a number of years. He is based in Mzuzu, the main city of the northern region and is actively working with various projects including the Prison Education Programme in the local Mzuzu Prison Service. Schools were established in Mzuzu Prison in 2003 for both men and women, and aim to give people the opportunity to create a better life when they are released. Some people cannot read or write so both primary and secondary education is provided. The programme also  offers the possibility of public university education, with successful candidates from Mzuzu Prison recently selected to study at Mzuzu University.  

Providing library and related resources presents major challenges, including lack of teaching and learning materials like textbooks, chalk, exercise books, pens and paper.  Nevertheless there have been significant achievement including admission of both female and male prisoners into various public universities and colleges; a number of  prisoners have learned to read and write; people have found jobs after release and importantly education gives prisoners a sense of achievement and self-worth.  

I  am raising funds to buy much needed books and other resources for the libraries in the male and female schools. I am working with Samuel Mwandira (Prison education coordinator), Fumbani Gondwe (prison chaplain) and Fr. Martin Reilly (St. Patrick’s missionary Society, Kiltegan, Co.Wicklow).  To date over €2,000 has been contributed and this has been used to purchase books. Some images are included. 

A book, which can be sourced locally, costs approximately €20. Please contact me on helenfallon@gmail.com, if you are interested in sponsoring a book. 

Margaret Shaba, Shop Assistant with
Fumbani Gondwe, Prison Chaplain in local shop

Samuel Mwandira,  Prison education co-ordinator   
with some of the new books purchased with Irish donations

 Rose Chitowe, Restorative Justice Facilitator, Fumbani Gondwe,
Prison Chaplain, Samuel Mwandira,  Prison education
co-ordinator in the Library

Read More

Cataloguing older Irish language material: some brief notes on the Cló Gaelach.

Guest post by Patricia Moloney, Librarian, Cataloguer of Dónal Ó Súilleabháin Library University of Limerick

Following a transcription query on library twitter last week, these brief notes on the Cló Gaelach/Gaelic typeface may be of interest to cataloguers with limited previous exposure to the Irish language.

Almost all texts published in the Irish language up to the mid-20th century, were printed using the Cló Gaelach, a family of Gaelic typefaces (also known as Irish type and Irish character). The Cló Gaelach is modelled on an angular form of calligraphy (the insular minuscule script) based on the Latin alphabet, which developed in the Irish medieval monastic scriptoria. (For more on the history of Irish scribal tradition see The Irish Hand by Timothy O’Neill). Traditionally the letters j, k, q, v, w, x, y and z were not used in the Irish language, but in later centuries they began to appear in loanwords e.g. júdó (Judo); x-gha (x-ray); zú (zoo).

Irish Type Design
The subject matter of the first Irish language books to appear in print was religious. By royal order, the first fount of Irish type (known as Queen Elizabeth’s Irish type) was cast in London before 1571 and was sent to Dublin where immediately an Irish printing press was set up in order to facilitate the production of religious texts. Regarding printing terminology, in traditional printing where metal moveable type is used, the term ‘fount’ (later ‘font’) refers to the physical metal letters which were created/cast in the form of a design of typeface. Stylistic variants create a typeface family, in this instance, the Cló Gaelach or Gaelic typeface/Irish type.

The circulation of Irish language translations of the New Testament on the part of the Reformed Church in Ireland, which were printed using this Queen Elizabeth’s Irish type, (a hybrid fount of Irish and Roman letters), dismayed the Irish Franciscans in Louvain. In response, the monastic college arranged for the design of what later came to be regarded as the first authentic Irish typeface, (Louvain Irish type), and this was used for the printing of the catechism of Friar Bonventura O’Hussey (Giolla Brighde Ó hEódhasa), in 1611.  Later typeface designs which form part of the Gaelic typeface family include: Parker Irish type (1787); Petrie A (1835); B (1850); C (1856) and more recently, Colum Cille (1936) which was designed by Colm O’Lochlainn of Three Candles Press. (For more on the history of Irish typefaces see Irish Type Design by Dermot McGuinne).

Transcription
Síneadh fada
In addition to the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, the Cló Gaelach/Gaelic typeface must include all five vowels with the síneadh fada (a “long sign” which lengthens the sound of a vowel).  To put an acute accent/síneadh fada on a vowel, (rather than inserting a special character from the symbols menu which is time-consuming), for a quick method in Windows, hold down the Alt Gr key, then press the key for the vowel to produce á, é, í, ó or ú.  Again, in Windows, for capital letters, hold down the Alt Gr and the Shift key together, and then press the key for the vowel to produce Á, É, Í Ó or Ú.

On the Apple Mac, holding down the option key at the same time as the key for e and pressing the key for the vowel that needs the accent/fada will produce á, é, í, ó or ú.  For capitals, hold down the option key, the key for e, the Shift key and the vowel that needs the accent/fada added to produce Á, É, Í Ó or Ú. It should be emphasised that the inclusion of the síneadh fada is very important for meaning e.g. the word fear = man, but féar = grass.

Séimhiú
The Gaelic typeface includes a set of consonants with a dot above (known as a ponc séimhithe "dot of lenition", séimhiú "lenition" or buailte "struck"). Since the establishment of An Caighdeán Oifigiúil/the Official Standard of modern Irish in the mid-20th century, and the adoption of the roman typeface for printing in the Irish language, the letter h is inserted after the relevant consonant to indicate lenition instead of the overdot. Special codes exist which permit display of the overdot séimhiú but for the purposes of cataloguing, the letters Ḃḃ Ċċ Ḋḋ Ḟḟ Ġġ Ṁṁ Ṗṗ Ṡṡ Ṫṫ may be transcribed as Bhbh Chch Dhdh Fhfh Ghgh Mhmh Phph Shsh Thth.

Image: Wikipedia

Tironian symbol ⁊
The Tironian symbol ⟨⁊⟩, which signifies the word et in Latin; ocus/agus in Irish, (‘and’ in English), is a remnant of a shorthand system, the notae Tironianae or Tironian notes, believed to have been developed by Marcus Tullius Tiro (died c. 4 BC).  Tiro was the confidential secretary, literary adviser, and former slave of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC), the Roman philosopher, lawyer, statesman who was renowned for his prose style. Tiro was freed by Cicero in 53 BC and following the philosopher’s death, Tiro published some of the Cicero’s speeches and letters, in addition to writing a biography. Medieval monastic scribes used many abbreviations, including Tironian notes. The Tironian symbol ⁊ survived in use in Latin and Irish language manuscripts to represent et and ocus/agus respectively and eventually became an essential element of the Gaelic typeface. The Tironian symbol ⁊ may be transcribed as ‘agus’ for the purposes of cataloguing.

Early logo of the Irish Department of Posts and Telegraphs/ An Roinn Puist agus Telegrafa,  Image: Wikipedia

Image by Richard Mcall from Pixabay

Adding scholarly notes – identification of stylistic variants etc.

Clóliosta, Printing in the Irish language, 1571–1871: An attempt at narrative bibliography, by Richard Sharpe and Mícheál Hoyne (soon to be published by the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies), is  a catalogue of printing in Irish from the beginning until 1871 which aims to document “the title and imprint of every item entered, a concise material description, identification of the Irish type used where relevant, the printer and place of printing, and references to appropriate bibliographical repertories”(dias.ie/cloliosta).

On  5 March 2019, Professor Richard Sharpe (Professor of Diplomatic at the University of Oxford), delivered the keynote address to  the Library Association of Ireland Cataloguing and Metadata Group Annual General Meeting during which he presented an overview of the Clóliosta catalogue project and where he requested the assistance of cataloguers and librarians in order to alert the editors to the existence of little-known or obscure copies and editions.

Professor Richard Sharpe addressing the LAICMG AGM in the National Library of Ireland, 5th March 2019. Photo: Yvette Campbell

Copies of the draft Clóliosta were made available to curators in libraries with relevant Irish holdings and the latest draft is now available as a PDF for download from the website of the DIAS here. The level of detail provided in the Clóliosta renders it an invaluable resource to cataloguers of Irish language publications who wish to add scholarly notes to records, including identification of typefaces and printing houses, and to those researchers interested in the book history and the history of print culture in the Irish language.

The sad news last week of the untimely death of Professor Richard Sharpe, renowned scholar, bibliographer, and supporter of libraries, came as a great shock to many in the library world. 

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

Further reading

• O'Neill, Timothy, The Irish hand : scribes and their manuscripts from the earliest times, Cork University Press in association with the Keough Naughton Notre Dame Centre, Dublin, 2014 (new edition). 
• McGuinne, Dermot, Irish Type Design:  A History of Printing Types in the Irish Character, Irish Academic Press, 1992
• Hoyne, Mícheál; Sharpe, Richard, (eds.), Clóliosta , https://www.dias.ie/celt/celt-publications-2/cloliosta/ [Accessed 31 March, 2020].

Patricia Moloney is a librarian in the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick, where she is cataloguer of the Dónal Ó Súilleabháin Collection in the Special Collections and Archives Department. She is the current Secretary of the Library Association of Ireland Cataloguing and Metadata Group.

Read More

Invisible librarians have contributed to the post-truth era: a debate

Below is a verbatim account of one side of a debate which proposed that 'This house believes that invisible librarians have contributed to the post-truth era'.

Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow debater, moderator and distinguished guests I am here to convince the house that invisible librarians have contributed to the post-truth era.

When it comes to invisible librarians, I can literally say ‘I wrote the book’ which is on sale tonight at a bargain price, come and talk to me later – sales pitch over!

I feel I need to clear up a few concepts here.  Invisible meaning ‘not seen’.  Post-truth era meaning circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.  The president of Harvard University Drew Faust described it just last month as an era when “evidence, critical thinking, and analysis are pushed aside in favour of emotion and intuition as bases for action and judgment”.  Much talk of fake news has amplified the fear around a post-truth era. We are living in unprecedented times where there have been significant social and political upsets, in the USA a president was elected with no previous political experience or political position.  He is, in the words of Noam Chomsky “a showman”.  In the UK the people voted to leave the European Union.

Both upsets are linked to fake news, where the ultimate headline ‘We send the EU £350m-a-week let’s fund our NHS instead, vote leave’ was everywhere and was believed to be true.  Such headlines gave people hope and people vote for hope.  Some people and some politicians are opportunists and they have always lied and will continue to lie.  Post-truth, misinformation, disinformation and propaganda have fuelled many political campaigns, however the difference today is that the Digital Age we are living in has allowed the news and the story to be amplified.  Fake news is churned out as fast as it is retracted, but nobody reads the retractions.  One exception to this is a French newspaper, Le Canard Enchaine, whose editor refuses to make the paper digitally accessible.

The editor argued that when the Internet came along other newspapers made content available online and pushed out alternative facts only to retract them later.  They found that it was the only way to keep sales figures up, by selling fake news.  Le Canard continues to be only available in print. This is in a country which values freedom, equality and democracy.  A country which brought us the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789, a fundamental document in the history of human and civil rights with a major impact on freedom and democracy.

Last year at a health conference I heard a professor of organisational behaviour and a leadership thinker (Gianpiero Petriglieri) state the following: “Whoever controls the story, controls the people”. If we take democracy to be an acceptable and equitable way that people have a say in how they are controlled, by casting their vote and by electing a government to represent them, then what we all need to ask is “who is controlling the story?"

The story is largely controlled by the press, the media, journalists.  Who controls them?  Big business and government.  According to Forbes 15 billionaires own American's news media companies.  According to the EU Commission, Ireland is exposed to a "high risk" over its concentration of media ownership.

Professions in academia and in the press are exercised about the post-truth era.  Why?  Because it is touches our values.  What has any of this got to do with librarians?  We share values with scholarship and the press – the value of intellectual honesty – in other words - truthfulness and we have a social responsibility to uphold our values. 

“We are living in a time of universal defeat when telling the truth is a revolutionary act” (G. Orwell).  Librarians have largely been invisible and apart from the fact that it is leading to the demise of the profession, it is also leading to the distortion of the truth.  The truth is something that cuts to the core of our profession. Veritas is our raison d’être. Librarians are defenders of intellectual freedom, of rational decision making and of democratic values.  We are defenders of the truth. If we remain invisible, and if we remain neutral, arguably so will the truth.

We are invisible in the following ways: by remaining neutral, through staffless libraries, by having low social media presence and by continuing to market the ‘library’ over the ‘librarian’.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT… NEUTRALITY. There is nothing neutral about librarianship, as Wendy Newman a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto has said ‘Librarians are anchored in values’ and our values are democratic, not neutral. She says librarians are rooted in timeless values. I agree with David Lankes, Director of the School of Library and Information Science at University of South Carolina when he says "Good librarians aren't neutral: they are principled".  The underlying principles of both journalism and librarianship are to be truthful.  According to the IFLA Code of Ethics, we have a social responsibility to society and to individuals to assist people in finding information, factual information, peer-reviewed research.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT… SOCIAL MEDIA. Many Librarians in Ireland are invisible on social media. I can count on one hand how many health librarians are on Twitter. My esteemed colleague and immediate past president of the LAI is equally invisible on Twitter. I found a Philip Cohen intern but I don’t think that was you. There is no excuse left in the book for librarians to remain invisible on Twitter, believe me I have heard them all.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT… STAFFLESS LIBRARIES. Let’s be clear that a library without any visible staff is a reading room. Equally a digital library without any visible librarians is just a gateway. The link is not being made in the general public or among the majority of library users/non-users about what it is that librarians do and the library – be it physical or digital. Our skills are largely un-communicated, misunderstood and invisible. We need new service models where the visibility of staff and staff skills are clear for all to see and to understand. It is not just our skills but our values and we need a revolutionary act to start communicating what these are.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT... MARKETING. Why we continue to market the library over the librarian is beyond me.  Certainly in the case of public libraries I can see a rationale, but not for other types of libraries. Yes I’m talking about academic libraries, yes I’m talking about special libraries, yes I’m talking about health libraries. The shift in emphasis needs to move from ‘library’ to ‘librarian’ otherwise our profession and the values that we hold high will remain invisible. We need to guide people to the truth through education and empowerment. Information literacy is one of our core skills, we need to start telling people this is what we are about. The ALA defines IL as “The ability to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." This is where we add value, this is part of our social responsibility, this is most likely one of the reasons we became librarians in the first place. If people don’t know about what it is that we do, if they can’t see it, they won’t value it. And we want people to value the truth don’t we? And we want people to value librarians, don’t we? 

Michael Moore who brought us the film ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ said ‘I didn’t realize librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group. They are subversive.  You think they’re just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything.  They’re like plotting the revolution, man”.

Our revolution is to hold our values high, to take part in revolutionary acts, in this time of deceit and to rebel against untruths and most important of all, to be visible. 

CLOSING ARGUMENT
We need to market our skills, talk about our value, become highly visible and defend the truth.  We must empower people with the skills to critically appraise information and give them the confidence not to believe everything that they read.

We have heard about grey areas, but the truth is not grey.  It can be ugly and it can be beautiful, but it is never grey.  The truth illuminates, the truth is worth defending and upholding.  As librarians we have a unique position in society to speak the truth, to uphold the truth, to defend the truth and ultimately to control the story.

Read More

Review of A&SL’s screening of The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas

*Guest post by Amye Quigley, Executive Librarian, Wicklow County Council Library Service*


On 3rd December 2016 the A&SL Section screened the documentary The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas by filmmaker and poet Greta Bellamacina and journalist Davina Catt. The documentary investigates the history of British public libraries and their decline in present day Britain. The documentary chronicles the beginnings of the public lending library in Scotland in the 18th Century and explores the important place that the library had in British society. The filmmakers interviewed many well known personalities such as Stephen Fry, John Cooper Clarke, Irvine Welsh and William Seighart to discuss what public libraries mean to them. The documentary is essentially a love story to public libraries and a plea to politicians to save Britain’s libraries from further cuts.

The A&SL organised for the filmmakers to attend the screening and afterwards there was a Q&A session which was quite interesting. There weren’t many other public librarians in the audience. Having watched the documentary and listened to Greta and Davina speak of their love of libraries, the process of making this film, and their efforts to interview various personalities, I felt profoundly sad and at the same time annoyed. Libraries in the UK are facing the biggest crisis of their histories. According to the BBC over 8000 library jobs have disappeared in the last six years in the UK. In many areas the councils have turned libraries completely over to volunteers, but without proper structure and a qualified librarian to organise and run these libraries they have been slowly closing. Annual visits to libraries in the UK decreased by 14% in 2015 and by up to as much as 21% in more deprived areas. Politicians use this kind of information as excuses to close even further libraries. But of course visits to libraries decrease if hours are reduced to volunteer-only run libraries. Funding to libraries has been cut by £25m in 2015/2016 which brings to 14% the reduction in total net expenditure since 2011. That amounts to about 5p to 9p per head of population spent on stock. Compare this to the €3.77 per capita target as laid out by Opportunities for All for Irish libraries. If funding into resources isn’t being made available, then this contributes to the decrease in visitors to the service too.

Here in Ireland, Opportunities for All, the national library strategy is coming to an end. There are some interesting and possibly difficult times ahead for public libraries with a new national library strategy on the way. In the past few months the public library service has been in the national newspapers with the My Open Library service and also with the new national tender for stock. Public librarians have voted against the roll out of the My Open Library service across the country. Booksellers have appealed the decision of the national tender. My Open Library is going ahead in some counties while others are delaying the implementation. The library service does need future-proofing and Opportunities for All steered the way for many great initiatives, such as all library services having access to the same e-resources and a new library management system which our borrowers love. Longer opening hours should probably be part of the next library strategy, but library staff fear that staffless hours could lead to additional unstaffed hours. What’s to stop a council from deciding to keep a small solo-librarian branch open staffless after the librarian retires? We say it won’t happen, we say we treasure our public library service, but certain cross sections of our society won’t use a staffless library and with a reduction in usage, will those branches be kept open? Watching The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas wouldn’t give you much hope.

Reading:

BBC, Libraries lose a quarter of staff as hundreds close. London: BBC News, 2016. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35707956 Accessed 04 Jan 2017.

Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Spending on local libraries falls by £25m. CIPFA, 2016. Available at: http://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/latest-press-releases/spending-on-local-libraries-falls-by-%C2%A325m Accessed: 6 Jan. 2017.

Clarke, Vivienne, Staffless libraries ‘not there to replace workers’ – Simon Coveney. Dublin: The Irish Times, 2017. Available at: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/staffless-libraries-not-there-to-replace-workers-simon-coveney-1.2931610 Accessed 10 Jan. 2017.

Cowdrey, Katherine, Irish Booksellers demand rethink on library tenders. The Bookseller, 2016. Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/irish-booksellers-manifesto-asks-gov-rethink-national-library-tenders-343706 Accessed: 04 Jan. 2017.

The Decline and Fall of British Libraries, Library Journal, 2015.  Available at: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2015/02/09/the-decline-and-fall-of-british-libraries/ Accessed: 06 Jan. 2017.

Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Independent Library Report For England. London: Department for Culture, Media & Sport, 2014. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388989/Independent_Library_Report-_18_December.pdf Accessed: 4 Jan. 2017.

The Irish Times, Librarians vote against rollout of staffless libraries. Dublin: The Irish Times, 2016. Available at: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/librarians-vote-against-rollout-of-staffless-libraries-1.2889720 Accessed: 06 Jan. 2017.

Local Government Management Agency, “My Open Library” Service. Dublin: LGMA, 2016. Available at: http://www.lgcsb.ie/en/news/my-open-library-service-welcomed Accessed: 8 Jan. 2017.

Local Government Management Agency, Opportunities for All: A Strategy for Public Libraries 2013-2017. Dublin : Department of the Environment, Community, and Local Government, 2013. Available at: http://www.lgma.ie/sites/default/files/public_libraries_strategy_2013_2017.pdf Accessed: 8 Jan. 2017.

Read More

Irish Librarians making an impact in Ireland and beyond.

Guest post by Israel Chidavaenzi. Israel is the Business Librarian at DIT Aungier Street. He is originally from Zimbabwe but has been working in DIT for 15 years

Librarians are a caring lot and oftentimes, their caring extends beyond call of duty. Yes, a caring lot is the best way to describe Librarians and I can say this with a lot of gusto because as a librarian who has been in the field for more than 20 years, I have seen and experienced the joys and tribulations of the profession. As librarians, our primary role is to quench the informational needs of those who use our services; this is largely dictated by why the library was ever established. It is no surprise that more often than not, expectations of those who use our services go beyond the scope of the many job descriptions that informs what you as library profession does every other day. Often times, there is now this natural expectation that is organically growing and its now almost a given than most librarians are now venturing beyond their comfort zone, all in the hope of satisfying what they perceive as achievable - including networking and collaboration.

Networking and collaboration, herein used in the most generic sense isn’t a bad thing after all - for thus how we all get to know what others are doing hence this influences how we thrive to better our own practices. The quest to know what is happening in elsewhere is probably why you are reading LibFocus, which is a home grown platform where Irish librarians share their professional tit bits. It was through LibFocus that DIT and UCC recently collaborated on a project that will benefit students in an educational establishment situated more than 8,000km from Ireland.


Give what you have
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) is widely credited with promoting the idea of passing on to others, objects whose usefulness is no longer relevant to current owners. This well-known saying is attributed to him:

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Giving is sharing and sharing is caring, true to the last word – a good example of this is how Irish academic librarians recently cared beyond satisfying the immediate needs of Irish students but also that of students in Malawi. This was made possible through LibFocus which earlier in the year had featured an article about how fire had destroyed the Mzuzu university library in Malawi, resulting in the loss of more than 45,000 books. Librarians in DIT (Aungier Street) together with Martin O’Connor from UCC partnered a UCC Governor, Dr Rosarii Griffin in to putting together and dispatching a consignment of 22 boxes with more than 600 titles. DIT got books from its decommissioned collection, donations from well-wishers and from lecturers who often receive unsolicited donations from publishers.


Caring beyond the call of duty?
Well, in this instance “caring beyond the call of duty” is true because none of the librarians involved with this collaborative effort has any direct link with Malawi. This lack of direct link did not stop us from caring about the lack of library books to more than 4000 students at Mzuzu University. If librarians put their heads together something good comes out of their effort, thus collaboration makes things happen. It is a known fact that libraries in the developing world are the least funded and in some cases they operate with zero budgets so receiving a collection such as the one we dispatched from Ireland is for many, probably the only way to get new books in to the library. It is for this reason that, we the Irish librarians should blow our own trumpets for our help is going beyond the borders – we care for the educational wellbeing of people we will never meet.


It just didn’t start with the Malawi project
Prior to sending books to Malawi, books from DIT have been going to Zimbabwe where they were being received with the highest appreciation one could ever imagined. For years, Zimbabwean libraries were solely relying on donations from well-wishers because they just didn’t have money. Any budget allocations were wiped out within hours due to super - hyperinflation.  A quick layman’s check on the internet shows that at one point, the inflation rate was predicted to reach 1.5 million per cent. I am going to be bold here; I will not cite the source of the above figure as this record breaking inflation rate was at the time, common knowledge. So in such an environment, Libraries were left with no money so books from DIT went a long way in supporting the Zimbabwean education system during its darkest days. More than 20,000 books were shipped to Zimbabwe over a 10 year period. This was largely a solo project from me, I did everything from sourcing the books to arranging the shipping logistics and financing the shipping cost though occasionally I would receive help from others, for example one year DIT students’ Union paid the shipping cost and occasionally DIT lecturers would contribute towards the shipping cost.

The Challenge
Shipping books isn’t cheap and it’s not easy. Although I did it on my own for more than 10 years, the experience has shown that this approach is just not sustainable – collaboration is the way to go, just like what UCC and DIT did with books to Malawi. From personal experience, I got great satisfaction from doing this and I would challenge other librarians to extend their caring attitude beyond their immediate traditional users and one way is to help those in need from far afield. Every year, libraries decommission books that still have a life so instead of dumping that book in a skip think about how that book could potentially make some life changing contributions to the education of others. If you are to coordinate book donations for overseas institutions, you ought to be selective on what you dispatch to them – do not use your beneficiaries as a dumping ground, if you do so then certainly it will not be a cheap way of getting rid of your books.
I have done it, DIT and UCC have collaborated on it and many of you have also done it for years so let us continue the good work for our efforts are making an impact in Ireland and beyond. Remember, “Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think” and what you give might be all there is to that someone.

 

Read More

BIALL (British & Irish Association of Law Librarians) - Review

Guest post by Ann O'Sullivan, (BA HDipLIS ALAI) is the new Knowledge Services Manager in A&L Goodbody, having recently moved from the Houses of the Oireachtas Library and Research Service where she was the Acquisitions & Research Librarian.

Introduction

I attended this conference in Dublin on the 10 and 11 June 2016 in the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel (formerly the Burlington). The theme of the conference was the Value of Change. In attendance there were approximately 200 delegates, 43 speakers and representatives from 31 suppliers. It was a busy conference with people from Ireland, the UK, France, America and Canada. The BIALL Conference Committee put on an excellent show; they engaged the services of Sovereign Conference Exhibitions and Warrick Event Services to assist them in running of a very smooth conference. I was also very impressed with the conference facilities at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel.

The theme of change was evident in all of the talks and presentations. As librarians and information professionals we recognise that the environment in which we work is constantly changing. It is very important that our skills evolve with these changes in order to transform our services and ensure that we are providing world class services in all sectors – corporate, academic, government. There were plenary sessions on Cyber-crime, Knowledge Management and Data Protection and the parallel sessions covered many topics including: embedded services, different ways to use technology and digital literacy. There were also talks from the sponsors and exhibitors on new products, and a series of 10 minute lightning talks that covered everything from patron drive acquisition to deep breathing.

Plenary sessions

Day 1 kicked off with the keynote address by Andy Harbison – Cyber-crime, how much of threat is it? Andy is a computer forensics investigator with Grant Thornton. Andy talked with great insight and depth of knowledge about the large scale cybercrimes that are committed against all kinds of organisations every day, including law firms. Zone-H.org is a website where you can find out who has been hacked most recently. Organisations and individuals can use all of the security measures imaginable to ensure their online safety, however Andy says that one of the most important things for everyone is awareness of your online presence. Training in online security and what to look out for is invaluable. Passwords MUST be complex and changed regularly, be suspicious when you are online, do not open suspicious emails, and be careful when you are browsing.

Amanda McKenzie's talk was entitled What Does Knowledge Management Mean for Information Professionals? Amanda is the Head of Research and Information Services as Olswang LLP. She is actively involved in KM projects and is keenly interested in how the concepts of information management and knowledge management interact. Amanda started her presentation with a quote from Albert Einstein: Information is not knowledge; the only source of knowledge is experience. She then went on to speak about the differences between information management and knowledge management. While they are different this does not mean that the two are not connected or that they do not support each other. Amanda addressed the question of whether the interchangeable use of the word knowledge with information means that information management is diluted or does it mean that information has to adapt to the mechanisms that knowledge management brings to an organisation and does it bring opportunities? Law firms have recognised that for many years that Knowledge Management supports the clients. The Knowledge Management strategy must be in line with the firms overall strategies. Amanda recommends having a Knowledge Management Steering Committee in-house to drive the Knowledge Management agenda and to ensure buy in from senior management. Collaboration is the key to creating a knowledge sharing environment. In order to value change we should suggest change, embrace change and challenge change.

Claire Greening from Withers LLP and Karen Brown from Dentons had an idea; they brought it to the BIALL Council and now we have two new tools for benchmarking legal library services: the annual BIALL Commercial Law Firms Survey and the BIALL Professionals Skills Framework. During their presentation Claire and Karen took us through their journey with the two working groups responsible for the creation of the new tools. BIALL already have an academic library survey and the salary survey, these still exist along with the new tools.
The Commercial Law Firms survey will be sent out to 145 firms in October 2016 (15 in Ireland), with the results due in Spring 2017, for the first time we will be able to benchmark items such as the library budget as a percentage of turnover, the number of library/information/knowledge staff related to the number of fee earners. Once the first survey has been completed the plan is then to issue this survey annually in January.
The Professional Skills Framework is now available on the BIALL website. The idea behind the framework is to provide a detailed overview of the skills and experience which legal information professionals need to carry out their role. It is designed to supplement, rather than replace, other relevant frameworks of skills, competencies and ethics, such as the CILIP Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB’) (also now available to LAI (Library Association of Ireland) members) and in-house documents. It is designed as a skills framework, rather than a competencies framework. The intention is that that the skills framework will be able to assist legal information professionals at all stages of their careers, with the principal uses being: as a benchmarking tool for personal professional development; to assist managers with appraisals and to assist managers with recruitment.

Denis Kelleher also spoke in plenary on the topic of Data Protection. His talk was entitled Europe & Data Protection: A Law onto Itself? Denis is the author of Privacy and Data Protection Law in Ireland; he is a Barrister-at-Law and is currently employed as Senior Legal Counsel in the Legal Division of the Central Bank of Ireland. Denis looked at the application of EU data protection laws to the global internet and social networks. Denis is an expert on this subject and took us on a whistle stop tour of the history of data protection in Ireland, Germany and Spain. He then looked to the future and explained what the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will mean for us in the coming months and years. One of the new requirements will be Data Protections Officers in every organisation.

Parallel sessions

Embedded legal information professionals: challenges and opportunities"
Peter Wilson & Cosmo Anderson, Slaughter and May
Peter is the first Knowledge and Information Officer to be embedded in Slaughter and May’s Pensions and Employment practice group. Cosmo has been part of the Knowledge & Information Officer team at Slaughter and May for over four years and currently supports the firm's IP/IT practice group. Embedded librarianship has been on the rise in the legal sector since the early 2000s. Peter and Cosmo discussed the ideas behind embedding legal information professionals in their user communities and their experience of establishing embedded services at Slaughter and May. Embedded librarianship is an approach, a particular way of working; it does not necessarily mean that you are physically located in the same area as your users. Peter and Cosmo suggest that the characteristics of embedded librarians are: relationship driven, enterprising, have specialist skills and knowledge; actively engage in networking and are flexible. The embedded approach is knowledge oriented.

Up the Value Chain: Transition from Law Librarian to Business Analyst
Helen Marshall & Kelly Taylor, Pinsent Masons LLP
Pinsent Masons has a team of research analysts providing the firm with in-depth sector and market analysis. This innovative approach has benefits for Pinsent Masons and also for the research team - increased visibility within the firm and developing a role as a trusted adviser to the business. The team are drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including experienced law librarians. During their presentation, Kelly and Helen who are both law librarians, discussed Pinsents approach to business and sector insight. They told us how the team adds value to the firm and how they have developed their existing skillsets to meet this new challenge. Their case study discussed the challenges in expanding our output from traditional legal research to more business and commercially aware research. The key new skill that they have both acquired is commercial awareness and the ability to carry our research on companies and form a view on the current status of the company and where is it is going.

Building bridges: using SharePoint to connect with law students
Celine Kelly, A&L Goodbody
Celine Kelly is the Knowledge Systems Manager within the Knowledge team in A&L Goodbody solicitors. The UCD Student Knowledge Centre developed out of Celine's professional experience in legal information and knowledge management and her post-graduate study in IT. This mix of experience and study made it possible for her to project management the venture from start to finish and execute much of the build on the extranet. A&L Goodbody have built on a tradition of adding value through knowledge by leveraging SharePoint technology to reinforce relationships between the firm and students the UCD School of Law. The Student Knowledge Centre uses SharePoint to bring together legal know-how and expert insight from A&L Goodbody lawyers to offer students support in their studies, further their commercial awareness and to provide a flavour of how law firms work and what it feels like to be a legal professional in Ireland today. Celine shared her lessons learned during this project from the planning, development, implementation and testing stages of using SharePoint as a web content management system and extranet.

Lightning Talks

For the first time at a BIALL Conference we were treated to lightning talks – a number of short presentations, just 10 minutes each, covering a wide variety of topics, presenters were both practitioners and suppliers, here are some of the highlights:

"Ask not…"
Marianne Barber, BIALL Immediate Past President & Tim Barlow, BIALL Council
Marianne and Tim discussed the benefits of getting involved with your professional association in this case BIALL. Joining a committee, organising events etc. is very beneficial at all stages of your career.
(I concur as my involvement with the LAI has been very enjoyable and beneficial!).

Beyond The Lawyer: Services for Support Teams in a Law Firm
Seána McAuley, Allen & Overy LLP
Seána presented a case study of the development and implementation of the A&O Belfast office Learning & Development collection which provides resources to support staff. The collection provides a continuation of the learning that is offered through internal courses, seminars and online resources. It also supplements other initiatives such as Be Well week, encouraging staff to maintain and improve emotional wellbeing. She discussed the practicalities of developing the collection, promoting it within the office and embedding the concept within senior management and key departments such as HR.

Creating a Law Collection at Royal Holloway
Sian Downes, Royal Holloway
In 2015 the Royal Holloway University introduced a new school of Law. Sian discussed the challenges of creating a new Law collection from scratch in an academic setting.

Beyond the expected: the Library's role in creating an institutional faculty blog platform
Claire Germain, University of Florida Levin College of Law
The Law Library at the University Of Florida College Of Law has created the faculty blog. They are instrumental in facilitating a social interactive academic research service that promotes the intellectual content of the institution.

More change? Deep breaths!
Jane Del-Pizzo, University of Law
Jane instructed us how breathing techniques can help cope with anxiety. Anxiety can often arise from periods of change. Learning to breathe from the abdomen i.e. deep breathing, not shallow, is a valuable first step in combating anxiety and building resilience in the face of constant change. Jane demonstrated the technique and we followed, the photos are available on Twitter!

How many times are you paying for the same case?
Masoud Gerami, Justis Publishing
Many cases are reported in multiple different report series – authoritative and specialist. And to have “better coverage”, customers are encouraged to buy as many different titles as they can afford. Masoud presented the statistics produced by Justis using their JustCite tool on how some cases are reported in many different case reports and are then available on many different online platforms.

Making your subscriptions work better for you
Mark Windsor & James Orr, Informa Law
Mark and James demonstrated how their solutions as Informa Law can make subscriptions more proactive instead of just reactive. They were promoting i-law.com to ensure that users are able to get to the information they need e.g. journal email alerts etc.

How to Respond To Research Requests More Efficiently
Peter Borchers, Priory Solutions
Peter's flight was cancelled so he didn't make it to Dublin, at the last minute his colleague José stepped in to talk about how using a research request tracking tool can help law librarians, specifically those working in law firms, find better answer research requests through the use of template responses and knowledge base searching. And Priory Solutions have just the product to help you to do this - Quest

Careers Panel

If only I had known that... Career insights from senior managers"

This session was chaired by Michael Maher from The Law Society of England and Wales, the other speakers were: Dunstan Speight, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP; Susan Scorey, University of Roehampton; Darron Chapman, CB Resourcing; and Samantha McCombe, Linen Hall Library.

You can read the speakers biographies here: http://www.biall.org.uk/pages/dublin-2016-speakers-433.html

The first question posed by Michael was about what skills we think are most important to our roles as law librarians: knowledge of the law, knowledge of IT or customer service. We first considered it from the point of an interviewee and then as interviewer. Customer service skills won hands down, as we all agreed that IT and Law can be thought but some people just have innate customer service skills and while someone who struggles with this skill can shadow and observe colleagues it is a huge advantage if you have a natural leaning towards excellent customer service. Other Items discussed and questions posed included: CV tips – what to include or leave out; do not forget to proofread, one of the speakers was once sent a CV without the candidates name!; when is the right time to move (don't be scared of moving was the advice from all of the speakers – don't be too mechanical in planning your career, allow for serendipity to intervene); get involved in your professional association (join a committee, if not BIALL then maybe the LAI, CILLIP, SLA etc.).

LexisLibrary Awards
The LexisLibrary Awards were presented at the conference dinner in the Mansion House on Friday night and all 3 awards went to libraries on the island of Ireland.
The award for Best Information Service 2016 went to The Bar Library in Belfast; Library Service of the Law Society of Ireland was the runner-up and Legal Aid Board’s Research and Information Unit was Highly Commended in the same category.

Charity Collection
At the conference dinner there was a collection for the Capuchin Day Centre who provide a range of services to the homeless in Dublin City Centre. GBP£945.00 was raised.

Read More