CILIP is excited to be launching our new Changing Lives Seminar Series, a programme of virtual events celebrating innovation and thought leadership in the library, knowledge and information sector. Curated alongside our Diversity Networks and Community, Diversity and Equality Group (CDEG), the Changing Lives Seminar Series will invite ‘lightning talks’ from new and diverse voices in sector and a keynote from an established professional.

Themes for each seminar have been set by our three Diversity Networks – the CILIP BAME Network, LGBTQ+ Network and Disability Network – together with CDEG, who are sponsoring the series.

The launch seminar will be held on Wednesday 21 July on the theme of Pride in the Profession. We are inviting applications to present a lightning talk on this theme, with the chosen speakers to be awarded £50 for their contribution. Lightning Talk submissions will be reviewed by a selection committee made up of representatives from CILIP’s Diversity Networks and CDEG.

We are delighted to reveal that our lightning talk speakers will be presenting alongside our first keynote speaker, Dr Karen G. Schneider, Dean of the Library at Sonoma State University and a member of the American Library Association’s Rainbow Round Table.

Karen is a thirty-year member of the American Library Association, and throughout that time has also been an active member of ALA’s Rainbow Round Table. She was elected to the Executive Board of the ALA in 2019. She has been Dean of the Library at Sonoma State University since 2015, her fifth senior executive role in libraries. She has published two books, three peer-reviewed articles, and over 100 popular articles for the library press. Her dissertation was the second academic study of the lived experiences of openly queer academic library leaders (she also wrote the first study). A native San Franciscan who has lived worldwide (including a two-year tour of duty at RAF Lakenheath), she now resides in Santa Rosa, California with her wife Sandy and their cat, Squeak.

CILIP’s LGBTQ+ Network are proud to host this first seminar, which will be chaired by Deborah Varenna. Deborah commented:

"The LGBTQ+ Network is honoured to host the first Changing Lives Seminar in the series, and I'm delighted to chair the event. It's important to celebrate marginalised voices and provide a platform for them to express and share their pride in the profession they shape. I'm excited to see what our speakers will be presenting, and I can't wait to learn from them."

The Changing Lives Seminar Series is born out of CILIP’s commitment to support the sector to increase the representation and diversity of the library, information and knowledge workforce, and to encourage a workplace culture that embeds, promotes and celebrates diversity and inclusion. It seeks to create a space for diverse voices in the sector to share the professional expertise that they bring to the profession.

In the call for applications for lightning talks on each theme, CILIP and our colleagues from our Diversity Networks will be particularly encouraging applications from professionals who are underrepresented in our sector, including people from BAME, LGBTQ+ and working class backgrounds, people with experience of disability and those who are neurodiverse, as well as people working at any level who have never spoken at a conference or event such as this before.

The second seminar will be held during Libraries Week on Wednesday 6th October on the theme of ‘Future Leaders’, with the third and final seminar of 2021 taking place on Wednesday 8th December (theme TBC).

To find out more about how to apply to speak or to register to attend the first Seminar event please visit www.cilip.org.uk/ChangingLivesSeminars