A&SL

Hands typing on a keyboard below the text: CONUL consortium of national and university libraries training and development

Entries for the 2025 Library Assistant Blog awards for an article in the style of a blog post are now being accepted. The competition is open to staff at all library assistant and equivalent grades in CONUL Training & Development member libraries. The theme of your blog entry must be library related. This could include any aspect of your current work; your ideas on a particular library development; some training/developmental activity you undertook; an event/innovation in your library; a particular item in your library’s collection; your library building etc. The closing date for entries is the 31st July 2025. 1st Prize €200 2nd Prize €150 3rd Prize €100 Please see the following Blog Guidelines and Judging Criteria for further details.

Calling all library assistants in CONUL Libraries - have you submitted to the @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards yet? Only 3 days to go to be in with a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes including the top prize of €200 AND be published in @libfocus.bsky.social conul.ie/library-assi...

Five people standing on stairs

Tiled pattern of a long white building built into a floor

Five people standing on stairs

A woman standing in a room with study booths

Members of the @aslibraries.bsky.social committee met for our annual planning meeting in Griffith College today. Huge thanks to @dimphne.bsky.social for hosting us and for showing us around the sun-dappled library!

YouTube video by American Experience | PBS Audiobooks and the accessibility revolution

Audiobooks and the accessibility revolution #PBS 📚
youtu.be/C-rKFOyOKN8?...

The Current State of Female Representation in Library Leadership: A Comprehensive Analysis of Over 13,000 Open U.S. Libraries by Library Type, Collection Size, and State Women are still underrepresented in library leadership. Previous research has focused on academic libraries, with samples of <1000 libraries. This is the first study to analyze >13,000 U.S. librari...

"This corresponds to a male being 28.6%–185.5% more likely to be director." (Depending on the type of library). 📚 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

South Georgia library manager fired for trans-inclusive display The branch manager at the Pierce County Library was fired after displaying a trans-inclusive children's book in a public display.

Lavonnia Moore, the librarian fired for including one of my books on a display after a child requested it, sounds incredible and what happened to her should be a crime. roughdraftatlanta.com/2025/07/05/l...

a woman in a floral shirt says a little more information please on netflix Alt: a woman in a floral shirt says a little more information please on netflix

Always on the lookout for the latest info and #library news? In our July link-out you'll learn about language bias in scholarly publishing, essential skills for library staff, AI & technology in #libraries, the pioneering Irish project recovering lost historical records and more at www.libfocus.com

Snapshots of three articles with thumbnails with the titles: "Is This How Men Always Feel?": The Power of Being Surrounded by Female Leaders at CONUL, Blog on the Conul conference 2025: Shaping tomorrow, Reflections and new directions, Changing careers from tech into librarianship

Why @libfocus.bsky.social - with these @conulconference.bsky.social reviews you're really spoiling us! Three reviews from the #Conul25 bursary winners were posted on the libfocus blog this week - read all about it over at www.libfocus.com

How brilliant that the Writing Skills for LIS Professionals webinar inspired Isabell Seeger to write this article. The event was jointly hosted by @laicdgroup.bsky.social and @aslibraries.bsky.social in May and presented by A&SL committee members @martinoconnor.bsky.social and Marta Bustillo.

It's always a pleasure to have our Summer networking evening with @aslibraries.bsky.social, a great time was had by all! Thanks to our wonderful speaker @aphrak.bsky.social for her insights on AI literacy and check out algowatch.eu for more info.

A crowd of people talking in a wood panelled room

Four people looking at the camera

What a great evening for our joint networking event with @healthlibraries.bsky.social Thank you to everyone who joined us today, to Dr Aphra Kerr @ucdischool.bsky.social for her fascinating talk and to The Mansion House for hosting us.

A woman pointing at a large screen

Huge thanks to guest speaker Dr @aphrak.bsky.social @ucdischool.bsky.social who is joining this @healthlibraries.bsky.social @aslibraries.bsky.social event to talk about the role of librarians in algorithmic and AI literacy

A woman speaking from a lectern

A woman speaking from a lectern

A grand house

Summer celebration networking evening graphic

Niamh Lucey chair of @healthlibraries.bsky.social and Fiona Logan chair of @aslibraries.bsky.social start off proceedings at the Summer Celebration networking evening in The Mansion House

The Summer Celebration networking evening has moved a few doors up from @ria.ie to the Oak Room in The Mansion House. Another beautiful space for current @healthlibraries.bsky.social‬ and @aslibraries.bsky.social members to catch up with colleagues and enjoy Prof. Aphra Kerr's talk!

Only 5 days to go to this Summer networking evening in @ria.ie. If you're a current @healthlibraries.bsky.social or @aslibraries.bsky.social member register for your free ticket today!

📢 Check out this review of the #ASL2025 Conference! 📢
Our LLL & Research Support Assistant Librarian, Kirsteen Walters, delivered an insightful presentation on "Empowering Library Users with AI Literacy: Developing High-Quality Resources to Foster Knowledge Growth" at the #MOLImuseum 27th March.

A picture of a woman beside a screenshot of an article with the title: Cultivating Connection: Libraries championing quality, wellbeing and inclusivity conference review

Don't miss Ann Marie Barrett's review of #ASL2025 in @laibluesky.bsky.social's An Leabharlann! Read about the brilliant talks from our speakers including the powerful speeches from @thekindbraveleader.bsky.social Helen Rimmer and @clairemcguin.bsky.social www.libraryassociation.ie/an-leabharla...

We hope all our library colleagues heading to Tullamore today have a great time at the @CONULconf. We'll be keeping up to date with proceedings on #CONUL25!

Aerial view of an island

Our latest guest post is by Kevin Tuohy who writes about his archival and cataloguing project for the Cape Clear Heritage Centre in West Cork. The materials in the collection offer a rich insight into 20th century cultural, linguistic, and political life in Ireland. This and more at www.libfocus.com

Summer celebration: Joint HSLF and A&SL members networking evening 2025. Tuesday 17th June 2025 from 5pm. Royal Irish academy, Dawson St, Dublin 2. Guest speaker: Professor Aphra Kerr, UCD ischool. Background shows melon sections on sticks below the HSLG and A&SL logos.

Join us for our joint Summer Celebration networking evening on 17 June in The Royal Irish Academy! Current @healthlibraries.bsky.social @aslibraries.bsky.social members are invited to book their free tickets to catch up with library colleagues & enjoy a talk by Prof. Aphra Kerr tinyurl.com/mve6k6h3

Writing skills for LIS Professionals: blogs, bursaries, journals and more is an online event between the Career Development Group and the Academic and Special Libraries Section of the Library Association of Ireland. The event will take place on May 20th at 6:30pm, online via Zoom.

Starting soon! Our sold out joint event with @aslibraries.bsky.social: Writing Skills for LIS Professionals with @martinoconnor.bsky.social and Marta Bustillo. Hashtag for tonight is #CDGASLWriting2025

Presentation title slide text reads: let's talk library blogging: why your voice matters - and what you could write about from Martin O'Connor in UCC Library

Martin O'Connor from UCC Library

Always a pleasure to hear fellow @ucclibrary.bsky.social colleague @martinoconnor.bsky.social speak! Tonight, he's talking all things library blogging for @laicdgroup.bsky.social & @aslibraries.bsky.social event on writing for LIS professionals #CDGASLWriting2025

Marta Bustillo from UCD Library

Introduction to grant writing for librarians presentation title slide

Up now for @laicdgroup.bsky.social & @aslibraries.bsky.social event is another great speaker, Marta Bustillo from @ucdlibrary.bsky.social who will be giving an introduction to grant writing for librarians #CDGASLWriting2025

a cartoon drawing of a person using a laptop with the words write written around them ALT: a cartoon drawing of a person using a laptop with the words write written around them

Great session yesterday evening by @laicdgroup.bsky.social & @aslibraries.bsky.social "Writing Skills for LIS Professionals"
Thanks to Marta & Martin for their great tips & advice 👏👏#CDGASLWriting2025

There are less than 10 places left for this @laicdgroup.bsky.social @aslibraries.bsky.social online event on 20th March at 6.30 pm. Reserve your free place on eventbrite now to improve your LIS writing skills with the brilliant Martin O'Connor and Marta Bustillo!

We love this post from Jorden McMenamin @atu-ie.bsky.social Library about presenting at #ASL2025. She describes her experience as a first-time speaker and attendee of the annual @aslibraries.bsky.social conference, capturing the atmosphere of camaraderie and connection present on the day.

We're delighted to be joining forces with @laicdgroup.bsky.social to bring you this brilliant Writing Skills for LIS Professionals session with @martinoconnor.bsky.social and Marta Bustillo.

Taking place on Zoom at 6.30pm on 20th May - register for your free spot today!

Images clockwise from top left: Graphic depicting different types of storage media under the text vanishing culture, a red road sign that reads reduce speed, a black and white photo of a woman in front of a large wall computer, a raised hand, a man with a beard looking out from foliage

Our April link-out has arrived! Get up to date on the latest library and info news with articles covering the Big publishers vs digital preservation, the secret history of the ENIAC women, threats and developments in open access, book bans, Brian Eno and more libfocus.com

A brilliant post about the appearance of libraries and librarians in songs. Who better to write it than @aslibraries.bsky.social committee member and melophile Martin O'Connor!

White shelves with labelled cardboard archival boxes. Job opportunity for an Interim Head of UCD Special Collections.

We're seeking an Interim Head of UCD Special Collections to lead this important repository of rare books & journals, archival/manuscript materials through a transformational period.
If you are a dynamic leader with expertise in these areas apply by Mon, 5 May.
universityvacancies.com/university-c...

This is brilliant, great to see that the initiatives shared at #ASL2025 are having an effect already!