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Published on Leave a comment on What we learned from our conferences : Academic Support Librarians and professional engagement
Conference attendees in a classroom look at a presentation
At the RLUK Conference, 2025

The Academic Support Librarians are a learning team, who have attended professional development events in line with the prioritised themes in our team workplan. Ishbel Leggat attended the RLUK conference in Liverpool in March, where she learned  “how colleagues at other institutions are embedding AI skills into the curriculum, how Generative AI is changing the HE landscape and how AI could be used to optimise library-related working practices”. The AI theme in our workplan was also explored by Anna Richards at the BIALL (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians) conference, with a view on how AI tools are being used in legal practice and library-led support. Jane Furness attended the CALC online conference in May which enabled her to “build my ability to contribute to and support the work of the ASL EDI group and in my support of ECA students and staff.” In June, SarahLouise MacDonald and Rania Karoula attended the SCURL Conference in Aberdeen which had an EDI focus, where they learned about “new avenues for research based on relevant presentations (specifically on radical hospitality and supporting diverse communities).” And Ruth Jenkins attended the LILAC Library Information Literacy conference in Cardiff, bringing back notes that were shared with team colleagues “… who picked up on different talks and themes so our conversations were different every time.” We share our learning with library colleagues in the ASL blog : https://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/asl/  ...continue reading "What we learned from our conferences : Academic Support Librarians and professional engagement"

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Published on 1 Comment on It’s August and induction season is here!
White lettering on a green background which reads: Come in, we're open.
Image by Geralt via Pixabay

Did you know that Academic Support Librarians (ASLs) work year round, even while most students are on their summer break? Here at UoE we have courses starting at different times throughout the year so some members of our team have already been hard at work helping students get settled in and familiar with Library Services right at the beginning of their university journey in Edinburgh.

For example, we have a lot of students who arrive for pre-sessional courses such as the 'Essentials of English for Academic Purposes’ who began in July in order to complete some language courses before their PG study begins. We like to meet these students and make sure they're familiar with which resources will be relevant for them, and how to ask for help in the very early part of their course so the information stays with them no matter what they go on to study.

A leaflet display on a table, with other stands around the room and small groups of students stood in between them.
ASLs had a stall at the Community Fairs organised by The Centre for Open Learning (COL) in July

We've been providing library introductions for new and returning students in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, and we’ll soon be welcoming the latest cohort of Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) students who will be arriving on the Holyrood campus on Monday 18th August. This group of students traditionally start before other cohorts and spend limited time on-campus as they go out on school placements at the start of the academic year.

To facilitate early arrival on-campus, Ishbel (ASL for Moray House School of Education and Sport) has liaised with Programme Directors for PGDE Primary & Secondary to find out how many new students are expected to arrive for the 2025-26 session (PGDE Primary: 100 approx. & PGDE Secondary: 145-160 approx.) She has liaised with the Moray House Library EdHelp Team and with Pam Wells at the Main Library to arrange for student ID cards to be sent to Moray House Library in advance, which allows PGDE students to collect cards before ‘official’ card collection events take place during Welcome Week. This year, we’ve also had assistance from Jade Fenton (Graduate Library Trainee) and Tim Gray to arrange for Library tote bags to be delivered to Moray House Library in time for PGDE student arrivals.

We'll also welcome Access students in August. Access courses are designed for adults who are returning to learning after a break and will go on to Undergraduate work in the future - they begin almost a full month before welcome week and continue on for two semesters.

We often talk about how there's no one-size-fits-all scenario for our students and that's because there's so many different courses, circumstances and timetables to account for in our planning. This is just one example of how we're trying to make sure everyone has a valuable and meaningful library experience no matter when they join us!

 

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Published on 1 Comment on SCURL Conference 2025: increasing inclusion

To add to our recent schedule of conference reports, last month several members of our

A large glass fronted building with unusual irregular striped windows stands proud against a blue sky. The building looks to be cube shaped and sits behind a grass lawn.
The 'Sir Duncan Rice Library', University of Aberdeen by Stanley Howe, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

team attend the Scottish Confederation of University & Research Libraries (SCURL) Conference on the 19th of June, which took place in the striking Duncan Rice Library at the University of Aberdeen.

We were delighted to see that the conference had such an interesting programme focused on the great work member teams are doing across the country to promote inclusivity and diversity of access. Sessions included topics such as 'Radical Hospitality: how can academic libraries support seekers of refuge?' and 'Higher Education librarians and social class background'. There were poster presentations from various member libraries taking action in their own settings, and keynotes from Dr Rachel Shanks, Interdisciplinary Director for Social Inclusion and Cultural Diversity at the University of Aberdeen as well as Beth Hellen-Montague, Head of Library & Information Services, The Frances Crick Institute and author of Practical Tips for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries (which is available as an ebook via DiscoverEd).

While all the talks were valuable, Beth spoke very knowledgeably on the practical work of becoming an EDI focused librarian, and while much of what she had to say regarding taking action (that all actions help, we don't need one person doing inclusion perfectly but rather to take advantage of the positions, groups and access we already have), she also introduced new-to-us concepts such as the Academic Wheel of Privilege which we plan to consider in our future work. This can help us in making assessments regarding building our collections, but also how we approach the cultures around our educational systems and student backgrounds. It also links directly to the work Darren Flynn discussed in his session on social class in academic librarianship.

For more information about the Academic Wheel of Privilege and how it can be used for research, see the FORRT website.

We love to see a strong EDI strand in any conference we attend, and look forward to bringing our learnings from this event to discussions at our ASL EDI group and the wider L&UC EDI network too.

SarahLouise McDonald & Rania Karoula 
Academic Support Librarians

Published on Leave a comment on Approaching critical library practice : CALC25
Critical Approaches to Libraries Conference poster

I attended the online CALC25 [Critical Approaches to Libraries] Conference from 13 – 15 May 2025. The programme, slides and recordings are available at https://sites.google.com/view/calcconference/calc2025  It was great to see Alice our Strathclyde placement student there too.

As you would expect from a conference on critical librarianship the programme topics were wide-ranging and diverse. Topics included professional identity, slow librarianship, supporting neurodivergent colleagues, information imperialism, and justice-orientated librarianship. I would highly recommend this affordable conference. It is £15 for 3 days and you can choose to donate a £15 entrance fee for another participant who can then attend for free. Most of the sessions were recorded and are on Youtube or the above website.

...continue reading "Approaching critical library practice : CALC25"

Published on Leave a comment on Reflections on Attending the BIALL Conference: Exploring AI and Legal Librarianship
View of students reading in a library on two floors
University of Edinburgh Law Library Senate Room to Mezzanine View with Students

This year, I was lucky enough to attend the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) conference for the very first time—and I hope it won’t be my last! From the moment I arrived, I was struck by how welcoming and friendly the event was. Thanks to the buddy scheme, I connected with librarians from across the profession, opening doors to future opportunities for sharing knowledge and ideas.

One of the big themes at all library conferences this year is Artificial Intelligence (AI), and BIALL was no different. As one of the AI leads in our team, I was keen to learn how AI tools are being used in legal practice and library-led support. The sessions didn’t disappoint.

...continue reading "Reflections on Attending the BIALL Conference: Exploring AI and Legal Librarianship"

Published on Leave a comment on Challenges, Changes and Collaborations– American Theological Library Association conference,  Pittsburgh June 18-21 2025

I was delighted to be invited to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this year to speak at the Atla 2025 Annual meeting. It’s actually the second time I have been to a library conference in Pittsburgh “the steel city”, the first was to an ARLIS art librarians conference over 20 years ago. This time Pittsburgh was looking very green with cool damp weather, cooler than the June heatwave happening at home in the UK.

Christine on the steps of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
On the steps of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

My conference experience began with a visit to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS)’s Clifford E. Barbour Library. Having just shown a group of PTS Doctor of Ministry students around my library, New College Library, the previous week, I was keen to visit the library of this partner institution. Like New College Library back at the University of Edinburgh, this library had recently been completely decanted for a full refurbishment, with priorities including increased light, improved air conditioning and redeveloped learning and social spaces. This was not the only similarity between PTS’s Library and my own library, which both use Library of Congress classification and support training for Presbyterian ministry. ...continue reading "Challenges, Changes and Collaborations– American Theological Library Association conference,  Pittsburgh June 18-21 2025"

Published on Leave a comment on VE Day: through our online resources

Today, 8 May 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) when people in Britain and Allied nations across the world celebrated the unconditional surrender of Germany in the Second World War. While it was not the end of the conflict (it was August 1945 before the war against Japan ended) the sense of relief for people who had been living under total war for 6 years was huge. In Britain VE Day was declared a national holiday and people took to the streets to celebrate and commemorate in a huge release of collective tension. This blog posts pulls together just a small selection of our digital library resources that will help you find out more about VE Day, the events leading up to it and the aftermath.

What did the papers say?

Mentions of VE Day or Victory in Europe Day start before the 8th May, as people were aware of and anticipating the likely German surrender. So some preparations were already underway and some people began to celebrate early, on the 7th, when in Britain it was announced on the radio that the war in Europe was over.

From "This was VE-Day in London." issue of Picture Post, May 19, 1945. Picture Post Historical Archive, 1938-1957.

...continue reading "VE Day: through our online resources"

Published on Leave a comment on LibKey Nomad – one click-link to full-text

Have you ever had that frustrating experience of searching on the web and finding a useful resource, but not sure whether the Library has access to it? Searching for academic content online can sometimes feel like a complicated process, but luckily the Library now has LibKey Nomad, an easy-to-use free browser extension that will link to academic articles, e-books and other materials which are available open access or though Library subscriptions.

LibKey Nomad works with many scholarly publishers' websites and also works with sites like PubMed and Wikipedia.

...continue reading "LibKey Nomad – one click-link to full-text"

Published on Leave a comment on What to do when the Library doesn’t have what you need?

At the University Library you have access to a huge range of material for your research and learning including over 2 million books, archives, instruments and artworks, over 2 million e-books and 330,000 e-journals, as well as 1000s of streaming videos, digital scans, databases, and more.

Text: How To Library

But when you are doing your own research there will be times you come across items or material that our Library does not have in its collections. Don't panic! There are options available to help you get what you need. ...continue reading "What to do when the Library doesn’t have what you need?"

Published on Leave a comment on Activism and Social Change in LGBT+ History

In February we celebrate LGBT+ History Month 2025 in the UK and this year the theme is 'Activism and Social Change'. Throughout history and across the globe LGBT+ activists have fueled social change, advancing society for the benefit of all.

To help you discover more we’ve pulled together just a small selection of Library resources that will allow you to start to find out more about activism and social change in LGBT+ history, herstory, theirstory.

1) Books (we are a library after all!)
2) Digital archives and primary sources
3) LGBT collections at Lothian Health Services Archive
4) Dissertation & Thesis Festival Discovery Day : Exploring LGBTQ+ History

Books (we are a library after all!)

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) was founded in 1990 as the first NGO devoted to advancing LGBT human rights worldwide. Transnational LGBT Activism : Working for Sexual Rights Worldwide asks how is that mission translated into practice? And what do transnational LGBT human rights advocates do on a day-to-day basis and for whom? Arguing that the idea of LGBT human rights is not predetermined but instead is defined by international activists who establish what and who qualifies for protection. ...continue reading "Activism and Social Change in LGBT+ History"

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