CILIP Ireland / LAI Annual Joint Conference - New Voices

You may have noticed a call for papers for the New Voices session in the CILIP Ireland / LAI Annual Joint Conference. The subcommittee assessing the papers submitted were bowled over by the caliber of entries and the interest round the session.

This is the first time that the Annual Joint Conference has held such a session and was the brainchild of Eilish McLaughlin, the Student and New Professionals Officer on the CILIP Ireland Committee. It offers the chance for new voices in the profession, whether they be students, early career professionals, librarians, information workers or knowledge managers, to speak and make their voice heard. The session will be introduced by Paul Corney, CILIP President and will be facilitated by Eilish.

The final selection encompass the theme of the conference; 'Vision and Revision: Virtual Libraries and New Beginnings'. First up will be Daniel McGrath from Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Library Service, looking at how the Covid-19 pandemic is digitising the public library. Emma Rothwell from the National Library of Ireland, will quickly follow Daniel, and will cover starting a studentship during the pandemic and how to make connections with a team that you might not actually see. Niamh O'Brien will discuss the main topic of her MLIS thesis looking at Plan S, while lastly we will hear from Adrian Vaughan about the use of 360 Virtual Tour software in Munster Technological University.

It's a great opportunity for early career professionals to put their thoughts out there, to report back to their peers and to gain experience of presenting at a conference, albeit virtually. If you are interested in hearing them speak, please register your place at Day 1 of the conference, 15th April 2021. There's still time to book your place by visiting the CILIP Ireland webpages or the Library Association of Ireland webpages.

Good luck to all of them on the day!