Gillian Siddall, Academic librarian at University of Northampton shared with us her reflections on attending and presenting at HLG Conference 2024. The conference was held at the Royal College of Physicians in London on 20th - 21st June. 

Attending the biennial HLG conference is always a welcome opportunity for me to catch up and engage with the wider health library community. As an Academic Librarian supporting health programmes, it’s essential to understand the developments within the health sector. This year, the theme of the HLG conference was “Connecting”, and I was attending for my own professional development, as well as to present on the LIRG research project.

Reflecting on the presentations at a conference is always an interesting process. Thinking about what stands out in your memory and what you picked out in your notes. Even before the conference began, I really enjoyed the pre-conference networking event and drinks reception. It gave me a chance to get familiar with the Royal College of Physicians and hear about the history of the organisation. It helped to understand the context of the institution and was great to hear that there’s a book in the collection about French country dancing. Clearly, exercise has always been recognised as beneficial to health.

For me, I really enjoyed the variety of talks, but the key notes really stood out, helping to underpin the importance of evidence-based practice to the profession and the sector we work within. How information and health literacy are essential to supporting our global community to improve their health and wellbeing. Presentations highlighted the expertise and innovation within the sector. Sue Lacey-Bryant’s talk highlighted the potential of librarians as agents of change. Ruth Carlyle outlined some strategies we could use to use policy to our advantage. The benefits of CILIP membership were celebrated by Jo Cornish. The HLG Conference was also my first opportunity to hear from CILIP’s new CEO Louis Coiffait-Gunn, who shared his hopes for CILIP and his interest in listening to and learning from the health sector.

The biggest highlight for me was hearing Michael Rosen speak. Listening to a man who ‘paints with words’ was a wonderful experience. It was my second time hearing Michael speak. The first time was ‘ahem’ a few years ago whilst I was at school. I remember then his joy and the rhythm of his words. Now, as an adult to hear about his experiences of the NHS during COVID and his passion for libraries was very moving. As a librarian, when I wasn’t laughing or crying, I was making notes of lots of his new work to add to our library. Michael Rosen is a brilliant advocate for literature, poetry, the NHS and libraries, and it was a pleasure to hear him speak at HLG.

Presenting alongside Professor Alison Brettle was a great experience. We were presenting the results of the LIRG research so far, with a specific focus on the responses from health libraries. We were speaking to a friendly audience, both online and in-person. It’s always difficult to know how the session goes when you’re presenting as I’m focusing on the timing, the content and making sure I’m connecting with those listening. Basing it on anecdotal feedback, the session was well received and there were some insightful and useful questions for the audience. Hopefully, we did justice to the research and offered our audience some food for thought.

Overall, the HLG conference was an opportunity to expand my awareness of developments and innovations within the health library sector. I also got to meet new faces and hopefully make connections for the future. To summarise my experience, HLG Conference is a friendly and informative conference that connects people across the profession.