Information School News

In November 2024, the University hosted the annual CILIP Prison Libraries Group Training Day. This was organised by CILIP’s Prison Libraries Group alongside Dr Jayne Finlay, Lecturer in Librarianship at the Information School. Three students from the Information School received bursaries to attend the event and have reflected on their experiences below. Rebecca Breinholt, MA Librarianship I’m interested in the work of prison libraries but know very little about how they actually operate so I was incredibly grateful to be given a student bursary to attend the CILIP Prison Libraries Group Training Day. Excited but a bit unsure of myself when I showed up, I quickly discovered how kind, dedicated, and knowledgeable the people engaged in this work proved to be. We heard from professionals on a range of topics including literacy and creativity, helping prisoners access legal information, neurodiversity, family projects, as well as a report on the results of a large study of UK prison librar...

Congratulations to our Head of School, Prof Briony Birdi, for receiving an Honorary Fellowship from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) - their highest accolade! Professor Birdi is a leading academic and researcher in the field of library and information science and a thought-leader in the fields of reader development and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in libraries. Speaking about the award, she said: "I've learned so much about libraries. And from such fantastic and committed colleagues as I've met through my various committees and groups that I've been involved in in with CILIP. Being able to bring this learning into my teaching, developing new programme a new decolonizing framework all sounds very grand but actually it's just me learning from everyone else. [...] honestly, I'm just delighted. Absolutely delighted to have this. So thank you very, very much." Also awarded were Joseph Coelho and Alison Wheeler. Find ...

Seventeen of the CILIP 125 List of the next generation of leaders are Information School alumni or students. CILIP members and colleagues were asked to nominate individuals within the profession to “recognise and honour a new generation of librarians, information and knowledge management professionals who drive positive change, make a difference and have an impact across all sectors.” CILIP Honorary Fellow Sheila Webber, leader of the iSchool's Library and Information Services Management programmes: "It's fantastic to see so many of our former students on this list of passionate and talented individuals. It's also great to have two of our current students already recognised for their drive and contribution!" Arved Werner Kirschbaum said:"I felt incredibly honoured and also very happy to be named as one of the CILIP 125, because it felt like a confirmation of the path I have chosen for myself: to become a librarian and devote my life to making a positive diff...

  Current student Maria shares her experience of this year's CILIP Conference in Birmingham I was one of the five fortunate students of Information School to receive a student bursary for attending the CILIP Conference in Birmingham. Participating in such an event was a unique experience for me because it was an opportunity for librarians to come together and discuss the future of librarianship. Specifically, the main topics of the conference concentrated on how the world of libraries changes underlying the important role of leadership, management, wellbeing, and AI. This was my first time attending an academic conference, so I experienced it as something challenging with enthusiasm. Initially, I felt a bit out of place, but soon after I met the other participants and my team from the University of Sheffield, I started to feel more comfortable. Also, this feeling got away when I started to participate in parallel sessions and help at the Information School exhibition stand. This al...

Librarianship student Lottie shares her thoughts about this year's CILIP conference. This year I was lucky enough to receive an iSchool bursary to attend the 2023 CILIP conference in Birmingham . The annual CILIP conference is the UK’s leading event for library and information professionals and felt like a good first conference for a new professional to visit given the breadth of topics explored and job diversity of the delegates attending. I was also curious about the theme of this year’s event which centred around issues of leadership, emerging talent and wellbeing. Day one conference timetable and my badge! This was my first conference post-pandemic and my first event in the library and information professional sphere. I was apprehensive about attending as an MA student but once I arrived and began chatting to fellow delegates, any anxiety I had about my professional status was quickly dissipated. In fact, I would go as far as to say that these informal connections that were for...

Current student Yuki attended the LILAC Conference - the Information Literacy Conference - in April and shares her thoughts below! I attended LILAC this year as a MA Librarianship student at the Information School. Attending the conference was an incredible opportunity to meet other library professionals from across the world and learn about information literacy from a variety of perspectives. Each day of the conference I had the pleasure of representing the iSchool at our sponsor booth setup. It was enjoyable to chat to prospective students about the programme, as well as make connections with past alumni who came up to the table to share about their experiences. I felt encouraged meeting alumni who were employed in a variety of roles after their time at the iSchool.  Within the conference sessions themselves I enjoyed seeing information literacy principles put into real-world application. I got to take my learning beyond the classroom and gain insight into current IL trends, cha...