For the Academic Libraries North event ‘You Said, We Did’
A post by Faculty Librarian Ben Taylorson
With Zoom and Teams now part of everyday working practices for many of us, the need to physically go somewhere for ‘a thing’ has diminished. But I do like a good, old-fashioned ‘in person’ event. So, when the chance came to travel to the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) to meet with a group of fellow librarians for a morning of information sharing, I took it.
I arrived the night before the event, and thus was able to have a bit of a mooch about in Preston. I’d been a couple of times before, but only to the football ground to see my beloved Boro win once and get thrashed once. After having a wander and buying a meal deal from Tesco, I then retired to the comfort of the Premier Inn where I ate a BLT sandwich and 2 boiled eggs whilst watching Police Interceptors (I feel this is the realistic glimpse behind the curtain of the life of a librarian you were looking for).
Early next morning, I had a jog over to Preston Marina – who knew Preston had a marina?! NOT I! After marvelling at that for a bit I headed back for a hearty buffet breakfast. I then made what was thankfully a very short walk over to UCLan in the pouring rain. On arrival there were coffee and pastries, which immediately added a star to overall rating of this event, regardless of how decent the content might turn out to be.
And very decent it was. The programme consisted of a number of short presentations with Q and A, as follows:
AI in HE: Walking the Tightrope by Adam Duffield of UCLan. A look at how to engage with staff and students regarding the rise of AI technology in the Academic space.
Nuggets learned from UKSG Glasgow 2023 & USTLG University of Sheffield 2023 by Bob Frost of Lancaster University. Bob discussed how a deeper understanding of the Open Access side of Scholarly Communications enabled new databases to be integrated into sessions for college/6th Form students to aid in their transition to Higher Education.
Creative openings by Ciara Murray of Lancaster University. Ciara discussed opportunities to myth-bust and explore perceptions of university libraries through drawing. We were invited to draw ‘a library’ as we perceived it.
‘Race across the library – Demystifying the library space’ by Mark Ogden, University of Huddersfield. Mark talked about how, in order to combat known issues and demystify the space, he had been involved in organising a ‘Race around the library’. This was a day long event where students would compete in small teams to complete a series of timed challenges, in the process learning about what the library offers and familiarising themselves with the space.
Collaborative Connections: Enhancing Library Skills Through Group Activities by Louise Smith of UCLan. Attendees engaged in a short group activity discussing emerging AI tools. We looked at potentials and pitfalls and presented findings to the rest of the group.
As you can see, we packed a lot in to the time we had which meant it had been well worth making the trip in-person. Plus, I’d seen the marina. And at least one other attendee at the event did not know Preston had a marina. But she does now…