Members may be interested in these online learning events on a wide range of evidence topics that are free and open to all. Dates are confirmed from October to January. Find out more and register here: https://www.cochrane.org/learn/webinars.
HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Friday 16th October 2026 – AI and generative AI in Health and Medical Libraries
HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 16th October 2026, 11:00 – 11:45am
Our next journal club meeting will be hosted by Niamh O’Sullivan, Research Officer/Librarian at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.
Article:
Sen, S. (2025) “AI and generative AI in health and medical libraries: a scoping review of present use and emerging potential”, Journal of EAHIL, 21(2). doi:10.32384/jeahil21675.
Discussion Questions
- Which of the AI applications discussed in the article seems most useful or realistic to use in your own library service? Why?
- What library activities should AI not be trusted to perform without human oversight?
- How can we benefit from AI while managing hallucinations, bias, confidentiality and copyright?
- Could AI strengthen rather than diminish the role of the health librarian? What skills will become more important?
- If you could trial one AI application in your library tomorrow, what would it be?
- Give us your best tool or tip for AI use in Libraries to save you time and effort.
HSLG AGM 2026
The Annual General Meeting of the Health Sciences Libraries Group will take place online on Thursday 12th November 2026, from 11:00-12:00.
HSLG members will be contacted by email and invited to register for the AGM via Eventbrite. The AGM will take place via Zoom, and a link to join the meeting will be circulated to registered attendees closer to the date.
We are also inviting nominations to the HSLG committee for the term 2026-2028. In particular we are inviting expressions of interest for the role of Treasurer. As treasurer, you would be managing the HSLG’s accounts and working closely with the rest of the committee to help deliver our conference and many other exciting initiatives that we have planned. Information on the nomination form and submission instructions are here, but do get in touch if you have any questions. Nominations must be received by no later than 5pm on Monday 9th November.
Come join us to hear about what we have done in 2026, as well as our plans for 2027.
Health Sciences Libraries Journal Vol. 2, Issue 1 (2026) – Published
The latest issue of HSLJ – Summer 2026, is now published
You can read the latest issue here
Vol. 2, Issue 1, Table of Contents
Editorial
- By HSLJ Editor-in-Chief, Jean McMahon
Research-based Articles
-
Australia’s Place in Library and Information Science (LIS) Education: Evolution, Progress and Future Challenges, Annmarie Whyte
Practice-based Articles
-
Not Just Evidence-Based, But Experience-Based: Establishing a Neurodivergent Peer Support Network for Staff in the Library and Information Sector, Andrew Walsh, Joanne Fitzpatrick and Amelia Haire
-
Depicting Trauma, Building Community: Expanding the Scope of Graphic Medicine-Comics, Shared Experience, & Collective Care, Jane Burns
-
Human Books, Real Stories: Creating Space for Empathy at The Human Library in Dublin City University, Eilís O’Neill and Gwendolyn O’Connor
-
Building AI Literacy Through Library-Led Copilot Training: A Practice-Based Case Study, Mairead Mc Keown and David Lombard
-
Growing Together: Scaffolding Systematic Review Training for Early Career Health Sciences Librarians, Bryn Murphy and Emily C. Adydan
Regular Features
- SHOUT, Mary Dunne
- James Wilkinson and the Evolution of Public Librarianship in Turbulent Times, Mairead Mooney
- Libraries are for Everyone, Dr Deborah Reed
- A Library Career: Spanning Public, Health and School Libraries in New Zealand and Ireland, Penny Wiggle
Reports and Reviews
- HSLG Conference Report, Therese Ahern, Breeda Herlihy, Dymphna McGettigan, Aoife McGrath, Julianne O’Callaghan
Updates
- In Memoriam. Dr Beatrice Doran PhD, MBA, BA, Dip Lib
The deadlines for our Winter 2026 issue are:
- Research articles (peer review) – July 10th 2026
- General submissions – October 1st 2026
For information on submitting an article please see https://journals.ucc.ie/index.php/hslj/about/submissions
HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Friday 24th April 2026 – Systematic review searching as invisible labour
HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 24th April 2026, 11:00 – 11:45am
Our next journal club meeting will be hosted by Caitríona Lee, Information Specialist at the Health Research Board.
View Caitríona’s presentation slides
Article:
Ross-White A. Search is a verb: systematic review searching as invisible labor. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Jul 1;109(3):505-506. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.20211226 PMID: 34629983; PMCID: PMC8485967.
Discussion Questions
1. What aspects of literature search-related work, if any, are invisible, erased or undervalued in our own HSLG librarianship work? (Potential examples: Reference interviews; researching, planning and conducting searches – alone or with researchers; data management of results; write-up/documentation; management of search results; search methods training; more?)
2. Health librarianship work is specialist professional work. Is it recognised as such in general? In the Irish context?
3. If our search work is perceived as basic or simple, how are we placed with regard to AI? Is professional search work at risk of being replaced with cheaper, less rigorous AI search if it is ‘invisible’ work?
4. Are there times when the librarian may not want to be credited with a literature search, re authorship or acknowledgements?
5. Posts where the majority of workers are female, such as librarianship posts, have often been under-recognised as professional – has this changed in the past decades?
6. Librarianship is not a vocation (or not only a vocation): it’s a job, it is professional work. Does the perception of library work as a noble vocation contribute to or enable its invisibility?
7. Are there practical things we can do to ensure that our work is recognised as complex, intellectual, rigorous work, that our organisations and professional ecosystems value health librarianship appropriately, and that we remain visible as a profession?
Conference 2026 – Presentations
Our 2026 Annual Conference on Celebrating Our Collective Power: Finding Strength in Difference was held in the Ashling Hotel on Thursday 12th March.
We would like to thank our wonderful speakers for their permission to add their presentation slides here.
Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry — Information, intelligence, instinct navigating knowledge in an ocean of AI
Tony Linnane – One person libraries in healthcare settings
Bryn Murphy & Emily Adydan – Growing together: scaffolding systematic review training for early-career librarians
Bennery Rickard – HSE Library day, 24th September 2025: light a big fire
Aoife Lawton – A national eHealth Library for all – how can we meed the needs of a nation?
Mairéad McKeown & David Lombard – Preparing future talent for the AI era – through a graduate Copilot upskilling programme
Mary Hearne – Beyond the individual – a collective approach to AI literacy for librarians
Niamh Walker-Headon – HSE Library partner organisation collaborations
Aphra Kerr – Libraries, expertise and literacy in the AI era
Click this link to view the HSLG_conference programme_2026, with presentation abstracts.
HSLG Conference 2026 Programme
We are holding our annual conference on Thursday 12th March in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin.
This year’s theme is Celebrating Our Collective Power: Finding Strength in Difference.
Our keynote speaker Professor Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin will present on Information, intelligence, instinct: navigating knowledge in an ocean of AI.
We also have an afternoon workshop on Libraries, Expertise and Literacy in the AI Era facilitated by Professor Aphra Kerr, Professor of Digital Media & Communication and a senior adviser at the UCD Centre for Digital Policy.
Register for this on EventBrite.
Download the programme here
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Health Sciences Libraries Journal Vol. 1, Issue 2 (2025) – Published
The Winter issue of our Health Sciences Libraries Journal is now published.
You can access our journal at: https://journals.ucc.ie/index.php/hslj/index
Volume 1, Issue 2, Table of Contents:
Editorial
- By HSLJ Editor-in-Chief, Jean McMahon
Practice-Based Articles
- We All Have a Story to Tell: Why Librarians Should Write about and Share What They Do, Martin O’Connor
- Time for SerendipiTEA: A Health Library-Led Cross-Organisational Randomised Coffee Trial, Paul Breen and Liis Cotter
- The Anatomy of a Journal: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, Mary Dunne, Breeda Herlihy and Julianne O’Callaghan
- Face Value: How Living with An Appearance Difference Informs Library Customer Service, Maeve Kerins
Regular Features
- Marcia Crocker Noyes: The Librarian Who Never Left, Meg Fairfax Fielding
- A Day in the Life of a Medical Librarian in an Academic Family Medicine Department, Alex Henigman
- Becoming Tusla’s First Librarian, Ian Feerick
- A Reflection on Forty Years Working in Libraries, Helen Fallon
- SHOUT: Sharing Hints, Outcomes and Useful Techniques, Mary Dunne
Reports and Reviews
-
Sharpening Search Skills: Reflections on a Peer-Review Search Strategies Course, Aileen Garrihy
Updates
- IN MEMORIAM. Dr Bríd McGrath BA (Mod), MLitt, PhD, DLIS
The deadlines for our Summer 2026 issue are:
- Research articles (peer review) – January 10th 2026
- General submissions – April 1st 2026
For information on submitting an article please see https://journals.ucc.ie/index.php/hslj/about/submissions
HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Wednesday 10th December 2025 – Open Access & Library Publishing
HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 10th December 2025, 11:00 – 11:45am
Our next journal club meeting will be hosted by Gerry McManus, Library & Information Services, St. Vincent’s University Hospital.
View Gerry’s presentation slides
Article:
Ma, L., Buggle, J. and O’Neill, M. (2023) ‘Open access at a crossroads: library publishing and bibliodiversity’, Insights: the UKSG journal, 36(1), p. 10. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.613
Discussion Questions
- From a library perspective, what does an ideal OA environment look like?
- Is this OA vision feasible under current conditions?
- Is small scale library publishing a viable option?
- Can we break out of metrics-based research assessment? How can we advocate for this?
Celebrating Our Collective Power: Finding Strength in Difference – HSLG Conference 2026 – Call for abstracts now open
We will hold our annual conference in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin on Thursday 12th March 2026.
Our theme is “Celebrating Our Collective Power: Finding Strength in Difference“.
We all have different values, preferences, priorities, stakeholders, professional goals and ways of working. This diversity provides benefits to our profession with greater access to new ideas and innovations.
- Technology – how do we prepare for technological innovations such as AI
- Impact – how do we make a difference to others
- User Engagement – how do we ensure our services meet the varied needs of library users
- Resilience – how do we function well in the face of adversity
- Lifelong Learning – (such as CPD)
Submit your abstract to contacthslg@gmail.com by Tuesday 13th January 2026. Please include a presentation title, name of presenter(s), organisation, abstract of 250-300 words, and whether you will speak for 10 or 20 minutes.
Successful presenters will have the conference fee waived.*
Tickets are now on sale register on Eventbrite
Ticket Prices:
HSLG member: €35
Non-LAI member: €80
LAI member/Student/Unemployed: €50
[*Note: Standard presentation will be limited to a maximum of two presenters, with short presentations limited to one.]