libfocus
LightNews LightNews
banner
libfocus.bsky.social
libfocus
@libfocus.bsky.social
1K followers 1.6K following 60 posts
A communal blog with a broad and open-minded take on the subject of library and information management. We love guest posts! https://www.libfocus.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
libfocus.bsky.social
Find out how to submit an abstract for the CONUL Conference with this guest post by the @conulconference.bsky.social committee. Submit your abstract by 20th January and you could be presenting at #CONUL2026 in Galway on 27th and 28th May. www.libfocus.com/2026/01/call...
Conul: consortium of national university libraries. Conference 2026: 27-28 May 2026, Galmont Hotel, Galway. Transforming futures: Libraries leading through change and innovation. Call for papers now open. conference.conul.ie. #CONUL26. Image of a hand touching a whirlpool of white light against a background of multi coloured circles.
January 6, 2026 at 11:01 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our first guest post of 2026 is from the editorial team of the Health Sciences Libraries Journal. They highlight the articles featured in the latest issue of the journal and share details about the deadlines for the Summer 2026 issues. www.libfocus.com
Volume 1, Issue 2, Winter 2025. Health Sciences Libraries Group. Health Sciences Library Journal. Official journal of the Health Sciences Libraries Group of the Library association of Ireland. Picture of trees in snowy weather.
January 5, 2026 at 11:41 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Happy Christmas and New Year to all our lovely followers and to everyone who has engaged with us here and visited us at libfocus.com. The blog has published more than 40 articles this year, huge thanks to all our contributors. Find out what our most read article of 2025 was at tinyurl.com/4e6jsp6p
December 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
In our final guest post of 2025, Bennery Rickard @hselive.bsky.social looks at #HSELibraryDay which took place on 24 September 2025. Careful planning and promotion resulted in 50 events across the country highlighting libraries and librarians in the health service. www.libfocus.com
Three people standing beside a table with printed materials on it. The tablecloth on the table has the HSE logo and HSE Library, Leabharlann FSS printed on it.
December 18, 2025 at 9:58 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
In her guest post Heather Wallace reflects on how her internship in @itmadublin.bsky.social helped her to connect with Irish culture and transformed her understanding of Irish traditional music, song and dance. Learn more at www.libfocus.com
Picture of a woman standing in front of a bookcase filled with books and a window
December 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
In our latest guest post Bord Bia's Mairéad McKeown shares key insights from the Knowledge Summit Dublin. Her post contains key learnings from the conference, with practical examples and thought starters to empower insight into action - all over at www.libfocus.com
Three people standing beside a banner that reads: Knowledge Summit Dublin
December 12, 2025 at 1:07 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
In our last link-out post of 2025 you’ll get the latest in open access, digital collections, declining social media use (yikes) and more. Read a call to action for #library staff, meet an anti-AI Librarian who teaches AI and learn about the perils of ignoring academic #libraries at www.libfocus.com
Images clockwise from top left: Engraving of an angel writing in a book beside a winged cherub, cartoon image of a man taking pages out of a computer screen, stacks of papers on labelled shelves, people sitting in a wood panelled library, hands holding a mobile phone
December 11, 2025 at 8:59 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
In our latest guest post Ashley Burke looks at the creative ways @mulibrary.bsky.social has worked around the limitations of the Dewey Decimal system, helping students both locate information and understand the systems behind it. Read all about it at www.libfocus.com
A person with black hair arranging books on grey shelves in a library
December 3, 2025 at 9:19 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest guest post is from Irene O’Dowd, Ann Byrne @the-librariann.bsky.social and Emberly Davey from the Digital Learning Department in Hibernia College. Learn about the team's Digital Literacy OER which has been re-launched with additional content. www.libfocus.com
Tablet, PC and laptop screens showing screenshots from a website
November 28, 2025 at 8:51 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Looking for the latest library and information news? Never fear, the libfocus link-out is here! Read about the incredible Internet Archive milestone, the latest AI and Open Access updates, librarians as keepers of truth and libraries of the future. This and much more at www.libfocus.com
4 images clockwise from top left: Man holding his hand up to the front of the picture, large room with several floors and white pillars, gloved hands filling test tubes in a laboratory setting, collage of a hand holding a book with colours exploding from it
November 26, 2025 at 9:04 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Get your roundup of library and information news from this month's link-out! Discover the online rival for Amazon, the Live Aid archives, the good and bad of AI, forgotten children's classics, librarians fighting censorship and much more over at www.libfocus.com
Three images: A cartoon image of two policeman carrying a monkey over the text curious george, a man holding a pile of books, pictures of singers performing
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Read our latest post from @jennylibrarian.bsky.social about the @lirheanet.bsky.social annual seminar. Learn about the insights shared by keynote speaker Dr. Daniela Bultoc around communities of practice in higher education at www.libfocus.com/2025/10/lir-...
A woman standing in front of two mounted screen facing a seated audience
October 17, 2025 at 10:12 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Congratulations to Hayley Brabazon from @dculibrary.bsky.social whose blog post 'What a TikTok ‘Thirst Trap’ Taught Me About Library Outreach in the Age of Disinformation' was highly commended in the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards. Read it now over at www.libfocus.com
A photo showing a group of students in a classroom looking at an image on a large screen.
October 10, 2025 at 8:57 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Well done to Rebecca Cairns from @ria.ie whose article 'Drawing from nature: The botanical drawings of Eileen Barnes' has won 3rd prize in the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards. Read it now over at www.libfocus.com
Image of botanical drawings depicting various plants
October 6, 2025 at 9:08 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Well done to Alana Mahon O'Neill from @dculibrary.bsky.social whose article 'How I learned to stop worrying and love Leganto' has won 2nd prize in the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards. Read it now over at www.libfocus.com
Sepia image that shows a tiny stick figure standing in front of a square at the centre of four patterned weaving paths
October 1, 2025 at 7:47 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Congratulations to Claire Dunne @ucdlibrary.bsky.social winner of the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog Award! Read her blog post 'Shells, Shorthand, and Skipping Classes: Documenting Prize Bookplates in the John Manning Collection of Children's Books' now at www.libfocus.com
Two rows of colourful books with white slips of paper in them
September 29, 2025 at 8:07 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Unlike the current Irish weather our link-out is always reliable, bringing you the latest library & info news each month! Get up to date on the wicked scholarly publishing system, the endurance of libraries & the war on knowledge, AI & Open Access, the Google Graveyard and more at www.libfocus.com
Five images clockwise from top left: Two hands shaking, A smiling man sitting with a book in this hands, white shelves with green potted plants on them, graphic of hand taking a book off the shelf, an open book with blue sparkling lights above it
September 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
New on Libfocus: @helenfallon.bsky.social writes about her current project supporting prison libraries in Malawi.

A powerful reminder of how libraries transform lives.

www.libfocus.com/2025/09/pris...
Three people in Malawi Prisons uniforms stand in a library. A woman in the foreground reads an open book on a wooden table, while two men stand behind her, smiling and holding books. Shelves filled with books line the background. A man in a tan uniform stands in front of a chalkboard, smiling and pointing to a physics textbook he is holding. In front of him, a table is stacked with boxes of exercise books and piles of school textbooks, including titles on chemistry, mathematics, geography, and English grammar Two people stand smiling inside a shop. A woman in a cream and black dress holds a ream of paper, while a man in a tan uniform and cap also holds it. Shelves behind them display stationery, electronics, and office supplies
September 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our August link-out is here and it's jam-packed with the latest #library and information-linked news! Get the latest updates about AI, publishers in crisis and librarians working with journalists. Look back on Live Aid and discover how #libraries inspired Martin Luther King www.libfocus.com
5 images: clockwise from top: A robot hand holding a pen, wavy line, a picture of two men (musicians Paul McCartney and David Bowie), a woman looking at a screen, a person standing in front of a stack of books
August 15, 2025 at 8:13 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
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...
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.
July 28, 2025 at 9:56 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Today's guest post is by Anne Charlotte Danhiez from the Robert de Sorbon Library in France. Learn about her thought-provoking and inspiring visits to CONUL Libraries as part of the @conultraindev.bsky.social Erasmus Library Staff Mobility Week in Dublin #ErasmusDub25 www.libfocus.com
Sixteen people standing or sitting in a row, facing the camera.
July 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
In her @conulconference.bsky.social review, @hollymeadekennedy.bsky.social from @mulibrary.bsky.social shares how empowering it was for her to hear from so many female library leaders at #CONUL25. Read more about a conference experience that was 'rare and radical' at www.libfocus.com
A close-up picture of two women
June 26, 2025 at 8:15 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Michelle McMeekin's @conulconference.bsky.social review gives an excellent snapshot of #CONUL25 in Tullamore. It is the first of three conference reports from this year's bursary winners. Read all about the conference talks, trends and tastes at libfocus.com
Graphic of a rectangle with a heart hands and feet and a magic wand with the caption something that you would do differently. A suitcase with the caption one thing you'll take away with you. A thought bubble that reads something you will remember and a bin that reads something you didn't like.
June 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest guest post is from Isabell Seeger, soon-to-be MLIS graduate from @ucdischool.bsky.social. She outlines her motivation for a career change from tech into librarianship and the surprising parallels and transferable skills from one to the other over at www.libfocus.com
A picture of a woman, white computer text on a purple screen that beings with 'how do large language models work? and a picture of books on shelves
June 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest link-out covers #library controversies and #libraries championing climate action, endangered crafts and book-inspired songs, must-read LGBTQ+ authors to celebrate #pridemonth, the latest in AI and open science and more at www.libfocus.com
5 images clockwise from top left: Hands holding a flame to red plastic material, two men with dyed hair standing shoulder to shoulder, a building viewed through slatted blinds, a woman with an SFSU tshirt lying on pages, a red circle with an x on it in the middle of a picture of a map system
June 11, 2025 at 8:15 AM