A view from Oxford Road

Reflections on CILIP’s 2019 conference @ University of Manchester

Abstract

The UK has always pioneered fresh ways of viewing librarianship as a profession. I have been an information professional for over seven years, and during that time there have always been aspects of librarianship that people thought would ‘die out.’ The need for librarians in an ‘information age’, for example. How often have we heard that ‘Google can find the results’, and so on? However, aren’t we now more important than ever before? Perhaps more so than any other period? I think that mid-career professionals are looking at a future where we need to learn to marry the soft skills of the profession with the harder, more technical skills required to specialise and adapt to an evolving need within society.

I am currently a User Research Consultant at Methods, Information Technology and Services. Projects are focussed mainly in the public sector and to date I've worked with the Education, Skills and Funding Agency and the Department of Education. Attending the 2019 CILIP Conference through the generosity of the UKeiG CILIP Conference Bursary, gave me the opportunity to connect with old friends, make new friends, and network with a community that I usually only interact with online. It’s easy to forget how diverse the profession is with the myriad roles and personalities that make up an increasingly nuanced industry.

This article will articulate my interpretations of key conference themes, and their relevance to Knowledge and Information Management (K&IM).