Nicola Buddo from City of Glasgow College reports back from CILIPS Autumn Gathering 2017
Category: Blog, Branches and Groups
The following is a guest blog about the Autumn Gathering from Nicola Buddo, City of Glasgow College. Nicola’s place was funded by the Academic and Research Library Group Scotland
I liked the Autumn Gathering because all of the sessions I attended touched on issues which affect every sector in some way or another which was rather refreshing!
I found the morning’s keynote speech from Douglas White (Carnegie UK Trust) and Duncan White (Save Scotland’s School Libraries group) particularly inspirational in how both campaigns have managed to shine a very public light on the importance of libraries, within schools and within the wider community. Both speakers spoke with passion and whilst they were realistic about challenges for the future, the presentations provided welcome insight on how motivated groups and individuals can really have a huge impact on the future of libraries and importantly, influence national outcomes.
Joe Wilson’s presentation on OER policy and practice in the Scottish education sector reflected on the current OER landscape and offered helpful advice on how to become more active in raising awareness and using OERs within institutions. Several Scottish universities now have or are investigating OER policies, as they recognise the powerful potential OERs have on the learning and teaching experience and Joe’s presentation really opened up the world of OER to those who were maybe not so familiar.
The Ferret Fact Checker presentation by Alistair Brian provided insightful advice on a very current topic – ‘fake news’. As Scotland’s first fact-checking service, Alistair discussed how the Ferret Fact Service deciphers the truth from ‘fake news’, whether it be false news stories or debunking viral images or memes on social media. It proved to be an enjoyable session, whilst serving as a reminder of the important role librarians have to play in this ‘hot’ topic.
The final presentation of the day, James Clay’s presentation on ‘The Challenge of the Intelligent Campus’, highlighted the possibilities (and challenges) a smart campus could have on the student experience. His fascinating talk identified offerings such as location and movement tracking which could potentially be used to provide a more personal service straight to the student’s mobile phone. (eg on–campus notifications). Certainly food for thought!
