CILIP Ireland Committee Meeting...my first!

I admit I was a little nervous coming to my first Committee Meeting but was delighted with the turn out and the welcome. Attending were Adrienne Adair, Claire Milliken, Alex McIlroy, Marion Khorshidian, Helen Kielt and Lorna Reid...and myself of course!

Our Chair Adrienne started with the introductions and the apologies as there were some new faces and some unable to attend. I did a little spiel about myself and also gave a mini-presentation about the facts and figures of our CILIP Ireland Membership (see below for a sample) which generated some discussion about what areas of membership we should target with our events and how we can attract new members. In order to get more specific ideas about the interests of our membership we agreed on sending out a short questionnaire to CILIP Ireland Members.

CILIP Ireland Member Sectors

I then went through some of the items that were discussed at the Branch and Group Forum, points of interest were the advent of the Virtual Learning Environment on the CILIP website and how we can participate in the  CILIP Professional Registration Launch which will run from the 24th of March to the 4th of April. (Any suggestions welcome!) The next practical steps in creating our Regional Member Network and how it will work in Ireland was another area of discussion but it was decided that this could be looked at in more detail at our next meeting.

Something that I have been working on is the CILIP Ireland online presence....e.g. this blog and out Twitter account, making more use of the CILIP website is another definite aim also. The Committee were keen to give a little more information about themselves on the website.

The LAI/ CILIP Ireland Conferences 2014 and 2015 were also highlighted. The 2014 Conference will be held in the sunny south-east of Waterford on the 10th and 11th of April and then it's back up North in 2015 to an as yet undecided location. Other items of interest were the CILIP Ireland University of Ulster Bursary and a guest speaker spot for CILIP Ireland in the University of Ulster Library course (April 2014).

I felt it was a very positive meeting and we are all enthusiastic about generating more interest in CILIP Ireland and giving more back to our members. We will be coming up with a specific 2014 work-plan for the Committee shortly so watch this space....

Annual Conference 2013, Library Association of Ireland, Public Libraries Section (6th – 8th Nov...a little bit back-dated)

Having been away from my native Ireland for a good seven years I thought attending this conference would be a good way to find out about the public library world and meet some of the people running it in the Republic of Ireland. The theme of ‘Smarten Up! Tech Trends and Library Services in the Digital Age’ also appealed to me.

I arrived late on the 6^th of November to a pretty desolate Monaghan bus station but found an extremely helpful taxi driver who assured me about the quality of the Hillgrove Hotel. In this I wasn’t disappointed as my room could have housed a small family.

As a day delegate the conference began for me the following morning. First up was Jim Thompson of Edinburgh City Libraries – ‘Digital and your library – serendipity or strategy? As Information and Digital Services Manager his role is to develop and deliver online and electronic services. He spoke in detail about the importance of having a digital strategy. Don’t just jump in, instead look at what technologies and social medias work best, decide on your target audience, see statistics as your friend and always examine the digital impact.

Anne Marie O’Dwyer of the Libraries Development team in the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) followed with an interesting talk on the many aspects of the national platform Ask about Ireland: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/ . As well as education, history and the environment, this one stop shop has a dedicated section on libraries. Library staff from any library in Ireland can upload content to the website. There is a huge family history following for the website in part due to the ability to freely search Griffiths Valuation Roll.

Next up was Maya Hanley who gave an interesting and practical talk on the uses of Social Media for libraries. She recommended blogging and Twitter for librarians, particularly as Ireland is one of the biggest users of Twitter in the world. She did emphasis that your website is at the core of your information and your social media circles around this. Other recommendations included the use of social media links such as Mashable and HootSuite to manage your use of Social Media.

Following a tour of the new Carrickmacross Library I reluctantly made my way back to Belfast. I think I’ll stay longer at the next Public Libraries Conference; I met lots of friendly and interesting people and learned a lot from my brief stay.

CILIP Ireland..an introduction

Hello

My name is Louisa Costelloe and I am the new Development Officer for CILIP Ireland. As it says on the cover my role is to develop...I will be working closely with the CILIP Ireland Committee to raise awareness of CILIP Ireland and to organise networking and learning events for those of you working in the library and information profession in Northern Ireland. I will also be involved in the organisation of the LAI/ CILIP Ireland Annual Joint Conference. I hope to be an easy point of contact for anyone with an interest in, or working in the library and information world throughout Ireland.

If you would like to read a wordier intro. to me and my library past have a look on the CILIP website: http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/about/cilip-people/staff

The point of this blog is to keep you updated on my work and the work of CILIP in Ireland. As well as the CILIP website I hope also it will give you an extra means of contacting me with ideas, questions or concerns.

I'm based in Holywood Library but am very keen to get out and about and meet library and information staff in their workplaces so feel free to extend an invite : ).