Reflections on LILAC 2025
Information literacy doesn’t tend to be a term we use a lot in NHS libraries. Critical appraisal, health literacy and much of the core work we do is clearly inextricable from the concept of finding, evaluating and using the right information. However, the wider discourse and debates around the discipline of information literacy sometimes feel too abstract, too academic, and (dare I say it) a bit too ‘navel gazey’ to be relevant to workplace libraries and the functional needs of the NHS. Since my completing my postgraduate qualification and becoming an NHS librarian, the discipline and the IL community has felt more distant and less relevant professionally. LILAC, with its emphasis on theory and usually higher education centric programme had therefore never really seemed like a conference for me. All that changed this year – three days in Cardiff that honestly changed the way I see the profession and how I want to develop myself and my work.
Feeling brave and enthusiastic back in November 2024, I had submitted an abstract to LILAC to present on work we were doing to support AI literacy in our trust. I was surprised to be accepted, as I worried my presentation was not sufficiently theory based to meet the (slightly intimidating) programme requirements. As the time between acceptance and the conference went on, I grew increasingly terrified – that I didn’t have anything of value to say, that I wasn’t properly basing my work in the IL literature, that I would be pelted with rotten fruit for mentioning generative AI in anything but an entirely negative light to an audience of mostly academic librarians. But with a bursary from YOHLLNet, my abstract in the programme, and train tickets and a dubiously cheap room booked, I no longer had an option of chickening out. So, I made my way to Cardiff, admittedly still working on my presentation even on the morning of the conference, whilst on a 6am bus down country lanes from my friend’s house in the Forest of Dean…
The organisers are making a real effort to expand the reach of LILAC beyond higher education, and they had programmed the Monday morning to highlight work in the health sector. To my initial horror and eventual relief, I was scheduled to speak in the very first parallel session. As a very nervous first time LILAC presenter and attendee, this made the whole experience much better, as I could then relax and enjoy the rest of the sessions. My presentation, which highlighted both the importance of and the (numerous) challenges for library services supporting learning around AI in NHS organisations, didn’t go too disastrously. Comments and questions from the audience were kind and considered, nobody threw rotten fruit, and it led to lots of interesting discussions with new people straight after the session.
With the terrifying work of presenting done, the challenge was then to engage fully with the rest of the programme rather than ruminating on all the things I wished I had said/not said during my presentation. The programme made this easier than it normally would be for me – there was so much fascinating, challenging, relevant content that it was hard to stay distracted and self-involved for long. There were so many people to meet and chat with and learn from – other health librarians (we formed a little ‘northern NHS’ crew for solidarity…), people I’d known in the distant past, lots of people I got chatting to in the queue for (the rather broccoli heavy) lunch, librarians in all sorts of roles, from different countries (lots of commiserating with people from the US about the whole fascism situation) and different types of academic institution.
It’s hard to pick stand out sessions. Nearly all of them made me want to work differently – more reflectively, with more consideration and application of lessons from elsewhere to my own practice. Some were eminently practical and applicable: a workshop from Kat Philips on how she teaches grey literature searching at Penn State University; a brilliant session from Anne-Lise Harding, on the Good Information Toolkit from the House of Commons Library (their work on educating politicians and their staff about misinformation is certainly something we can draw lessons from in the NHS). Others were more theoretical, with a broader societal scope: Sarah Pavey on definitions of information literacy in education and the challenges of getting IL onto the school curriculum was fascinating to me as a parent, emphasising the mismatch between the crucial role that these core IL skills of critical thinking and analysis have in today’s information environment, and their lack of emphasis in primary and secondary education. If I had to pick one, Elinore Carmi’s keynote on data was probably my favourite session. Information literacy isn’t just about separating ‘good information’ from bad – it’s about being aware of how our data is used, how this impacts the information we encounter online, how this can erode our privacy and autonomy. This sort of discussion can feel very removed from our day-to-day work in the NHS, conducting literature searches and helping people to use databases – but it matters. Understanding this wider environment, being willing to grapple with these topics and the challenges they pose, helps us to support staff, students and patients to develop information literate skills and attitude which will become increasingly important as AI becomes ever more prevalent.
Did I feel like I, as an NHS librarian, belonged at LILAC? Absolutely. Not just because of our little NHS crew, but also because of the clear respect and curiosity that our HE colleagues and the wider IL community have around the work that we do. Whilst we may still be outliers at LILAC and in IL discourse more widely, we are wanted there. People want to understand what information literacy work can look like outside of higher education, and although we may not always frame it that way, we are doing it. We are supporting healthcare staff to develop the information skills they need to study (as demonstrated wonderfully by Jess Waite and Katie Smith in their presentations), we are working in our organisations to help ensure people have the skills and understanding to use generative AI tools responsibly, and we are increasing awareness amongst staff and patients of how health literacy can impact the quality of care that people receive, and how we can resolve this. This is all information literacy work ‘on the sharp end’, often carried out without much time or resource. We have a lot to share, as well as a lot to learn from the work being done by our HE colleagues.
I enjoyed LILAC so much that when applications for a committee vacancy opened up a few weeks after the conference, I applied. (Reader, I joined the committee…) Apparently it was the first time anyone outside of higher education has applied for a committee post, and they are delighted to have expanded representation from other sectors. I am so happy to be a part of this group and to have this opportunity to make connections, delve deeper into the world of information literacy and hopefully share knowledge and understanding in both directions. Here’s to many more LILAC conferences, and many more NHS librarians taking part!
Beth Tapster – Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
