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Celebrating Our Collective Power: Finding Strength in Difference – HSLG Conference 2026 – Call for abstracts now open

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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.]

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HSLG Conference 2025 – Presentations

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Our 2025 Annual Conference on Cultivating Curiosity: a Wonderland for Librarians was held in Ashling Hotel on Thursday 6th March.

We would like to thank our wonderful speakers for their permission to add their presentation slides here.

Keynote Speaker: Sue Lacey-Bryant – Making Curiosity Count

Mary Dunne – Conceptualising Curiosity 

Peter Reilly – Cultivate your Creativity by Being Curious!

Dympna McGettigan – Health Information Calendar: a health calendar for all

HSE Library ILL Team – Everything, Everywhere All at Once…But in One Place!

Ann Byrne – Follow the White Rabbit: Guiding Nursing Students to Creative Poster Presentations

Niall O’Brien – Following Protocols: adventures in tracking the lifecycle of review protocols

Aoife Lawton – LAI Library Labour Market Taskforce Report: key findings

Mingli Gong – What are the CPD Needs & Challenges in Engaging ICT for Librarians in Ireland?

Mairéad McKeown & Amy Bond – Knowledge Cafe: How We Make Better Sense of a Rapidly Changing and Complex World

Amy’s Top 10 Tips for Hosting a Knowledge Cafe

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Registration for HSLG Conference 2025 – now open

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The HSLG committee are delighted to announce that registration is now open for the Annual HSLG Conference which takes place on Thursday 6th March in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin.

Our theme for 2025 is “Cultivating curiosity: a wonderland for librarians”.

Our theme explores the role of curiosity within librarianship, which includes:

  • Innovating, challenging and being open to new ideas, experiences and perspectives
  • Planning for the future / creating or adapting to environments of change
  • Delving deep. Understanding and providing evidence of value
  • Lifelong learning
  • Believing impossible things – and making them happen

Register now: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/hslg-conference-2025-cultivating-curiosity-a-wonderland-for-librarians-tickets-1092203563259?aff=oddtdtcreator

The programme is packed with interesting and relevant speakers, with plenty of time to network. Highlights include keynote speaker Sue Lacey Bryant, CILIP President, and a knowledge café led by Mairéad McKeown and Amy Bond of Bord Bia.

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The HSLG makes the Bernard Barrett Bursary award available to HSLG members from across Ireland to enable members to attend the annual conference. Members may apply for funds to cover the registration fee and/or travel expenses: https://hslg.ie/about/hslg-bursary/

 

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Dive down the ‘rabbit hole’ with us at HSLG conference 2025 – call for abstracts now open

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We will hold our annual conference in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin on Thursday 6th March 2025.

Our theme is “Cultivating curiosity: a wonderland for librarians”. Maybe you are finding these times are ‘curiouser and curiouser’? (Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). We would like to invite you to submit an abstract for a presentation.

Subthemes include
• Innovating, challenging and being open to new ideas, experiences and perspectives (new developments, critical appraisal, AI, technology, tools etc)
• Planning for the future / creating or adapting to environments of change (planning, forecasting, work roles, change etc.)
• Delving deep. Understanding and providing evidence of value (user experience, marketing, research, evaluation)
• Lifelong learning (such as CPD)
• Believing impossible things – and making them happen (success stories or adventures)

Submit your abstract to contacthslg@gmail.com by Monday 13 January 2025. Please include a presentation title, name of presenter(s), organization, abstract of 250 – 300 words, and whether you will speak for 10 or 20 minutes.

Successful presenters will have the conference fee waived.*

Ticket prices:

HSLG member: €35

Non-LAI member: €80

LAI member/student/unemployed €50

[*Note: Standard presentations will be limited to a maximum of two presenters, with short presentations limited to one.]
Conference

HSLG conference 2024 – presentations

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Our 2024 conference – Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? took place in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin on 7 March 2024.

We would like to thank our wonderful speakers for their permission to add their presentation slides here.

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Registration for HSLG Conference 2024 opens

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The HSLG committee are delighted to announce that registration is now open for the Annual HSLG Conference which takes place on Thursday 7th March in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin.

Our theme for 2024 will be “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”. There’s always something that can potentially disrupt our professional work (remember search engines were meant to herald our doom?). We’ve managed to survive, and often thrive, in the face of adversity, but can produce a better response when we work together and plan ahead.

Sharing our ideas and innovations at this conference is one way to become stronger.

In the library of “Howling Innovation,” the big bad wolf of change is not to be feared but embraced — could it be a companion in the quest for knowledge, a catalyst for evolution, and a muse for the ever-changing melody of progress? Join Dr Lollie Mancey for an exploration of the changing landscape of libraries in an AI world, questioning how we safeguard our core values and functions to ensure that libraries not only survive challenges but thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of information and technology.

Register Now: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/hslg-conference-2024-whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf-tickets-757718395117?aff=oddtdtcreator

The programme will include the following speakers:

  • Dr Lollie Mancey – Howling innovation: unleashing the spirit of change in libraries
  • Mairéad McKeown and Lauren Sneyd – How the Bord Bia Library is helping its users learn, know and sustainably grow with AI
  • Caitríona Lee – Literature searches and AI in health libraries
  • Eimear Carney and Jean McMahon – Mentoring for librarians ‘fireside chat’
  • Breeda Herlihy – First year of the HSLG literature search peer review buddy scheme
  • Louise Farragher – Mind the Gap: mapping reviews and evidence gap maps
  • Marie Carrigan – Using citation-based literature mapping tools for scoping reviews

The HSLG makes the Bernard Barrett Bursary award available to HSLG members from across Ireland to enable members to attend the annual conference. Members may apply for funds to cover the registration fee and/or travel expenses: https://hslg.ie/about/hslg-bursary/

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Call for Abstracts for HSLG Annual Conference 2024

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The HSLG will hold our annual conference in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin on Thursday 7th March 2024.

Our theme for 2024 will be “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”. There’s always something that can potentially disrupt our professional work (remember search engines were meant to herald our doom?). We’ve managed to survive, and often thrive, in the face of adversity, but can produce a better response when we work together and plan ahead.

  • What can we do to prepare for the future?
  • What issues should we be talking about?
  • Are potentially scary issues challenges or opportunities?
  • How can we produce a strong, structured approach to practice that will withstand potential assaults?

Sharing our ideas and innovations are one way to become stronger, so we’d also like to hear about any subject that interests you. We would like to invite you to submit an abstract for a presentation on our theme or sub-themes. Subthemes include:

  • artificial intelligence
  • environmental issues
  • library community support
  • CPD
  • workforce challenges
  • censorship

Presentations will be 20 minutes. You can submit your abstract to contacthslg@gmail.com by Friday 19th January 2024. Please include a presentation title, name of presenter(s), organization, and abstract of 300 – 500 words.

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HSLG conference 2023

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The HSLG committee are excited to announce our 2023 conference will take place on Thursday 9 March in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin.

This year’s theme is ‘Time to reflect: managing our professional development’ which is relevant to all librarians and information specialists in Ireland.

Time for professional development may sometimes seem like a luxury amid hectic work-schedules. However, having a structured development plan is an investment in ourselves, our practice and our profession. This conference aims to provide practical advice on CPD management, and to enable a discussion about what organisations, including the HSLG, LAI and our employers, can do to enhance the scope, value and effectiveness of our professional development.

We have invited some well-known speakers to provide their insight:

  • Jane Burns – CPD serendipity, challenges and opportunities- developing a framework for health librarians
  • Mary Buckley & Isabelle Courtney – Making a commitment to your professional development
  • Marie O’Neill – Five key competencies for librarians

Kate Kelly (RCSI) and Liis Cotter (HLI) will lead a panel about CPD in their organisations. We want to understand what works well and what could be adopted as good practice across our sector.

Of course, we are pleased and grateful that some of our members will also present at our event:

  • Ailish Farragher – Supplemental searching in the health sciences: the view from Plato’s cave”
  • Marie Carrigan – Using PRESS for search peer review
  • Jim Healy – Continuing professional development and learning from the experience of others
  • Anne Madden – I’ll show you mine if you show me yours

Do join us for a day for chat and sharing, where we can learn how to improve and demonstrate our value together.

Register Now

Note: The Bernard Barrett Bursary is a special award to enable HSLG members from across Ireland to attend the annual conference. Members may apply for funds to cover the registration fee and/or travel expenses: https://hslg.ie/about/hslg-bursary/

 

Conference · Events

HSLG conference 2022: presentations

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The HSLG committee would like to thank everyone who attended our 2022 conference – Open to change, on 24 March 2022 in Dublin. We would especially like to thank our speakers for their excellent, informative and engaging presentations. Where we have permission, we have uploaded their presentations here:

Louise Farragher, Health Research Board –
Citation tracking: tools and approaches – slides
Citation tracking: tools and approaches – full presentation (external link)

Liis Cotter, Health Service Executive –
Nursing journal club for mental health nurses – it will never work, will it? – slides

Richard Hollis, Cochrane –
How to integrate Cochrane Interactive Learning to deliver systematic review training for early-career stage healthcare researchers – slides.

Trish Patton, Irish College of General Practitioners –
An action research study on the design and development of an e-learning module on information skills to empower general practitioners – slides.

Niamh O’Sullivan, Irish blood Transfusion Service
Connections that count: Credit to the Crew

Aoife Lawton, Health Service Executive
A national eHealth library for Ireland: the story so far

Caitriona Lee, Health Research Board
Showing our workings: the new PRISMA 2020 and the use of search summary tables