Imogen Loucas is presented her CILIP125 Medal for outstanding librarianship by Sue Williamson, CILIP vice-president.

An action-packed conference that brought leadership to the "top-of-mind" took place in the 125th year of CILIP's Royal Chartership.

CILIP conference 2023 saw a reimagining for CILIP's conference format with a dual speech stream that looked at the current issues gripping the libraries and information sectors through the lens of leadership, and a stream tailored for Knowledge and Information Management professionals.

The conference took place on 12-13 July, and the opening keynote was led by Rebecka Isaksson, Partner and Director Content and Collaboration AI, AI lab in Sweden.

Rebecka drew on her extensive experience and background at Microsoft, and gave real world examples of how AI is driving business value in knowledge management and how new tools and technology are already impacting the way we work.

Over the two days, the delegates had the tough choice between three separate concurrent talks and panel discussions after each interval, that covered everything from wellbeing, digital content, eBook rights, school libraries, and climate justice and the Green Libraries Initiative.

Day One's Lunchtime keynote speaker was Dr Navina Evans, who joined the delegates via recorded video to talk about how her experience as a practitioner enabled her to find her role as Chief Workforce, Training and Education Officer, NHS England. She shared some vital insights into the qualities a leader needs to successfully manage an enormous workforce.

The conference provided the perfect opportunity to announce the #CILIP125 List, a selection of 125 outstanding and inspiring libraries, knowledge, and information management professionals, in celebration of 125 years of CILIP chartership.

Two recipients, Imogen Loucas, Librarian, GLL Bromley Libraries, and Beth Montague-Hellen, Head of Library & Information Services, Francis Crick Institute, represented the #125List with speeches to delegates as part of the presidential dinner, where they were presented with their medals.

Read about CILIP 125 here, and see the full list of recipients

Thursday's keynote was led by Masud Khokhar, University Librarian and Keeper of the Brotherton Collection spoke about his route into library leadership in the Thursday opening Keynote. He talked about how motivation and an understanding of internal bias are vital to success in leadership, and how leaders need to share their optimism and vision with their staff, who sometimes don't have the same opportunities to get the full picture.

Nick Poole, CILIP CEO giving his plenary address at CILIP Conference 2023

CILIP CEO, Nick Poole, brought all the Conference's unique insights and ideas together for the closing session.

"One theme has stood out almost more than any other - which is that all of our discussions here, from AI to sustainability, knowledge management to engaging children and young people with books and reading, have been about exploring our common humanity in a new landscape.

"I was looking for a key concept that captured the theme of conference this year, and for me it is really encapsulated in the opening to Imogen Loucas' acceptance speech for her CILIP 125 medal last night, where she said that 'Libraries are the backbone of humanity.'

"This idea of our shared humanity has been woven through this entire conference.

"What could be more human than addressing our role in environmental sustainability and a 'just transition' to Net Zero?

"We have explored our international role and relationship to IFLA in the context of a challenging discussion about library values in different nations;

"Adam Tulloch, new Chief Executive of ASCEL shared his powerful vision of the central role of children and young people in our professional future;

"We discussed the very human experience of imposter syndrome and how we can build a 'personal brand' that reflects our values.

"As I said in my opening remarks, we want CILIP Conference to be more than an event that people come to and listen. We want it to be a 'doing community' committed to taking action to move our profession forward in a way that is human."

Read Nick's full plenary speech (member only content)

Inspired by the conference? Missed out but want to get involved? CILIP Conference 2023 highlighted that three are always many things you can do (right now!) to support your industry and your career

Sign the ebook Pledge and support ebookSOS

Sign the Green Libraries Manifesto

Join CILIP

Reignite your professional journey